The 40,000-dose shipment of the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine, Sinovac, sent by Turkey to help the brotherly country fight the coronavirus outbreak, arrived in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Tuesday.
A Turkish Health Ministry plane carrying the vaccine doses landed at Ercan International Airport in Lefkoşa (Nicosia), where officials of the TRNC’s Health Ministry received the shipment.
With the latest delivery, Turkey has provided the TRNC with 140,000 vaccine doses to date.
Turkish Cypriots have vaccinated more than 107,000 doses so far, while 48,000 people had their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The total population of the country is 326,000.
"We continue our struggle against COVID-19 with our people and the support of Turkey. A total of 40,000 more doses of the Sinovac vaccine will arrive from motherland Turkey tonight. We whole-heartedly thank Turkey, our motherland," said TRNC Prime Minister Ersan Saner on Twitter.
The number of COVID-19 cases recorded in the TRNC is over 3,900, including 24 deaths and more than 3,000 recoveries.
Turkey previously sent 20,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to the TRNC in January. Turkish Cyprus Health Minister Ali Pilli said, "As always, Turkey is with us in the fight against COVID-19 as well."
Turkey has helped countries from various parts of the world fight the coronavirus outbreak. Bosnia Herzegovina received around 30,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine Sinovac sent from Turkey in March, while Turkey also sent 150,000 doses to Libya on April 15.
