President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has tested negative for COVID-19, his doctor said in a statement late Thursday.

He will return to public service on Friday, Prof. Serkan Topaloğlu added, underlining that he no longer has disease symptoms.

Erdoğan has not had any symptoms of the virus over the past few days, while first lady Emine Erdogan has "very mild symptoms," according to Topaloğlu.

"The PCR tests we have done for the last two days have been negative. I think that our president will return to his routine program very soon, even tomorrow," Topaloğlu said.

Noting the significance of vaccines in Erdogan's recovery process, Topaloğlu added: "We think that the vaccines are definitely very effective. Our president's stance on vaccines has been very clear since the beginning of the pandemic."

The president was one of the first people to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in the country, he stressed.

President Erdoğan and first lady Emine Erdoğan tested positive for COVID-19 last Saturday.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and other politicians wished Erdoğan and his wife well on Twitter.

Leaders both from within and outside Turkey wished the couple a speedy recovery. Those who sent messages include Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Ersin Tatar, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Erdoğan relayed his and the first lady's thanks to the leaders for their wishes in separate Twitter posts.

Separately, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev called Erdoğan to wish him and his wife a quick recovery. During the conversation, the two leaders exchanged views on various aspects of Azerbaijani-Turkish brotherhood and friendship.

The Turkish president received his first vaccine dose in June last year and publicly received his third dose in January to encourage the nationwide vaccination campaign. He will turn 68 later in February.