A vaccine study developed by Turkey’s Selçuk University is now on the watch list of the World Health Organization (WHO). Professor Tülin Cora, head of the Medical Genetics Department at the university in central Konya province, said in a statement that the university's vaccine study was one of eight being conducted through the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK).

Explaining that approximately 2,000 vaccine projects were being carried out around the world, Cora said: "The World Health Organization has included 165 of these vaccine projects on its watch list. Two vaccine projects from Selçuk University are included in this." An inactivated vaccine project against COVID-19, carried out by our university's professor Osman Erganiş, is also in this list, she said.

COVID-19 Messenger RNA (mRNA) Vaccine Project Leader Nadir Koçak said that 14 vaccines using RNA technology had been included on the watch list of the WHO.

Emphasizing that they were working on mRNA vaccine technologies for cancer treatment before the COVID-19 pandemic, Koçak said: "We have entered the process of preparing an mRNA-based project against COVID-19 with professors from different universities across the country. We have previously conducted studies on molecular issues and are experienced in basic techniques used in mRNA technology." "Our project has been quickly accepted as part of the TÜBITAK 1004 Center of Excellence Project and included in Turkey's COVID-19 platform run by the Ministry of Industry and Technology," Koçak added. "We will soon be creating our first sample vaccine. After creating the vaccine, we are planning to move on to animal experiments. We hope that after the animal experiments we can start phase studies," he said.

Ibrahim Yıldırım, the project's lab coordinator at Dicle University in southeastern Diyarbakır province, said the vaccine study would be Turkey's first mRNA vaccine project. "Our project continues with the contributions of our professors from universities across Turkey. We expect the vaccine we have created to generate a specific immune response in animal and human experiments," he said.

Turkey will soon begin Phase 3 human trials for two vaccines under development by China, Germany and the United States. Germany and China have applied to conduct the Phase 3 trials in Turkey and have presented preclinical trial results, while Turkey wants to see Russia's preclinical results before the trials. In Turkey, three vaccine studies have gone beyond the animal testing phase. Authorities announced earlier this month that a vaccine could be available in early 2021. Some 18 studies are underway in the country, eight for vaccine development and 10 for drugs.

More than half a dozen drugmakers around the world are conducting advanced clinical trials, each with tens of thousands of participants, and several expect to know if their COVID-19 vaccines work and are safe by the end of this year.

More tests, recoveries

Turkey has conducted a record 110,102 tests for the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, the country's health minister said Monday. "Today we reached the highest number of daily tests. More than 110,000 tests were carried out and 1,587 new patients were identified. Our sorrow over the loss of life is beyond words," Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter. Recoveries have risen by 1,087 to reach 244,926, as 44 more people died, pushing the overall toll to 6,370, according to Health Ministry data.

The figures showed that 7.5% of COVID-19 patients in Turkey were suffering from pneumonia, while the number of patients in critical condition rose to 961. Speaking to Hürriyet newspaper columnist, Ahmet Hakan, on Tuesday, Koca said stable trends in caseloads in some cities and a rise in certain regions, saying that Istanbul, the country’s most populated city, was "more controlled" and did not see a significant rise recently. Istanbul, where the country’s first case was reported, long topped the list of caseloads in the country, yet Koca pointed to the rise of infections in Turkey's central and southeastern regions. He said there was also "a partial rise" in cases in Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city located in the west. Koca singled out the capital Ankara as the city with the highest rise in cases in recent days, followed by Konya and Kayseri in central Turkey, and the southeastern and eastern provinces of Şanlıurfa, Mardin, Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Batman, Van and Ağrı. "This is the second peak of the first wave," Koca warned. Cases had first peaked before Turkey saw a drop and eased restrictions in June.

"The number of cases increased because of increased mobility before, during and after Qurban Bayram (Eid al-Adha)" Koca said, referring to the religious holiday celebrated in the first week of August. The holiday saw thousands of people heading vacation resorts and their hometowns to visit family. Some preferred to extend their holiday for a few weeks more and only recently returned to big cities.

The summer is also the wedding season. Videos and photos of wedding parties with people disregarding mask or social distancing rules had prompted concerns and Koca said wedding parties were among "main sources" of infection. In most cities, governorates placed restrictions on wedding parties over an increase in cases.

Media reports say that Turkey plans to "slow down" increased mobility as the summer ends but authorities would not impose severe restrictions. A new rise in cases is expected in the coming months as decreasing temperatures will see more people confined to crowded indoor venues.

Nationwide restrictions such as weekend curfews that were lifted earlier this summer will not return but "regional" restrictions may be imposed, specific to each area with a heightened number of cases.