Turkey has administered over 116.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since it launched an immunization drive in January, official figures showed on Saturday.

More than 55.37 million people have been given a first vaccine dose while more than 48.61 million have been fully vaccinated, the Health Ministry said.

Turkey has also given third booster shots to some 11.12 million people.

Meanwhile, the ministry recorded 23,096 new coronavirus cases, 203 related deaths and 28,632 recoveries over the past day.

As many as 344,163 new virus tests were done in the last 24 hours.

Factors vary in the new surge of infections, which is only worsened by the fast-spreading delta variant. Young people, or those below the age of 30, make up more than half of COVID-19 cases. Increased mobility after a return to in-person education last month and apparent neglect of mandatory mask and social distancing rules contributed to this new wave of cases.

Experts had already predicted the new surge in autumn, a time when more people spend time indoors and in crowded places. As a matter of fact, the country was forced to reintroduce tough restrictions last autumn in the face of a steep rise in the number of cases.

The vaccination program, in parallel with a new normalization process this summer, was opened up for more people. The eligibility limit for the CoronaVac and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines was lowered to 15.

With more than 112 million doses administered so far, Turkey has made significant progress. Yet, younger people tend to embrace vaccine hesitancy, a major obstacle to the vaccination program, according to experts.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed nearly 5 million lives in at least 192 countries and regions, with more than 246.2 million cases reported worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University in the United States.