First batch of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines arrives in Turkey

Workers unload boxes of China's SinoVac COVID-19 vaccine at Esenboga Airport in Ankara, Turkey, Dec. 30, 2020. The first batch of 3 million doses of China's SinoVac COVID-19 vaccine arrived in the Turkish capital Ankara early Wednesday. Mass vaccination will start following 14 days of tests, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted Wednesday. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

ANKARA, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- The first batch of 3 million doses of China's SinoVac COVID-19 vaccine arrived in the Turkish capital Ankara early Wednesday.

Mass vaccination will start following 14 days of tests, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted Wednesday.

"As soon as the tests are completed, our vaccination program will take place under the coordination of the General Directorate of Public Health," he added.

Late Tuesday, Turkey added 15,805 COVID-19 cases, pushing the total number of positive cases in the country to 2,178,580, its health ministry said.

The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 253 to 20,388, while the total recoveries climbed to 2,058,437 after 21,004 more cases recovered in the last 24 hours.

The country now has 4,191 patients that are seriously ill, said the ministry.

Turkey has conducted a total of 24,141,935 tests, with 183,117 done over the past day.

Turkey reported its first COVID-19 case on March 11.