ANKARA (AA) – Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic and other news in Turkey and around the world.
– Coronavirus and other developments in Turkey
Turkey has administered more than 27.6 million coronavirus vaccine doses since launching a mass vaccination campaign on Jan. 14, according to the latest official figures announced by the Health Ministry.
More than 15.79 million people have received their first doses, while an excess of 11.82 million have been fully vaccinated.
The Health Ministry confirmed 9,528 new cases, including 846 symptomatic patients, across the country in the past 24 hours.
As many as 8,852 more patients won the battle against the virus, taking the number of recoveries near 5 million.
Meanwhile, the nationwide death toll reached 45,840, with 214 new fatalities.
Speaking at a virtual Global Health Summit hosted by Italy, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed “severe injustices” in acquiring COVID-19 vaccines and urged world leaders to ensure fair access to jabs for everyone. Turkey has sent medical devices and equipment to 158 countries and 12 international organizations, he said.
As part of the country’s war on terror organizations, Turkish security forces arrested 161 people for suspected links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) — the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, and four Daesh/ISIS terror suspects.
Two separate terror attack attempts at military installations in southeastern Batman and Sirnak Turkey were foiled by security forces.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the UN General Assembly meeting on Palestine, developments following a cease-fire in Gaza, Afghanistan, humanitarian relief efforts for Syria and developments in the Eastern Mediterranean.
On a related note, the US State Department announced that Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will travel to Turkey next week as part of a marathon diplomatic tour that will take her to Europe and southeast Asia. “Deputy Secretary Sherman will underscore the importance of the U.S.-Turkey relationship as we work together with our NATO Ally to confront mutual challenges, and discuss areas of concern,” said a US statement.
Communications Director Fahrettin Altun condemned Israeli police’s heavy-handed intervention at a congregation at Al-Aqsa Mosque after Friday prayers. Referring
to the latest cease-fire accord between Hamas and Israel, Altun said that it should be used as an opportunity to find a lasting solution to the problem based on two states.
Turkish Aerospace Industry (TAI) announced that the first indigenous multirole utility helicopter, Gokbey, will undertake full-scale static testing (FSST). Gokbey is the nation’s first indigenous new generation multirole helicopter — a twin-engine, six-ton class helicopter designed in response to growing market demand.
In northwestern Edirne province, border troops rescued 35 asylum seekers who were pushed back by Greek authorities
– Coronavirus developments worldwide
Nearly 1.6 billion coronavirus vaccine shots have been given worldwide, figures by the Our World in Data showed on Wednesday.
China is the most vaccinated country with over 466.7 million jabs, according to the website data. It is followed by the US with more than 279.4 million shots.
The World Health Organization said the worldwide death toll from COVID-19 could be twice or three times the reported figure of 3.4 million and as high as 8 million
At the Global Health Summit, China’s President Xi Jinping announced an additional $3 billion in international aid to support the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic and socioeconomic recovery in developing countries.
Public Health England (PHE) reported the number of confirmed cases of a mutation that originated in India rose 160% this week across the UK.
American tech mogul and philanthropist Bill Gates urged high-income countries to support global pandemic efforts and to enable more vaccine access for the rest of the world.
-Israeli aggression against Palestinians
World leaders and international organizations generally welcomed a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel. American President Joe Biden, who spoke to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas via telephone, expressed his satisfaction with the cease-fire and said Palestine will be provided with American security and economic aid.
UN human rights experts called on all parties to respect the new cease-fire and urged an investigation by the International Criminal Court into attacks on civilian populations and other gross violations of human rights.
Turkish experts, on the other hand, maintained that Israel backed down and agreed to a cease-fire deal with Hamas because of international pressure and the Palestinian resistance group’s response with more advanced weapons.
Moreover, Palestinian analysts stressed that the latest developments unified Palestinians across the world under a common cause.
Palestinian Health Ministry reported the death toll from the Israeli attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip which ended after a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas rose to 248, including 66 children and 39 women.
Israeli attacks on Palestinians, however, continued. At least 11 people were injured in the West Bank when Israeli forces attacked demonstrators who gathered in support of Gaza demonstrations
-Other world developments
Aline Ouedraogo, CARE Country Director in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), reported that nearly 7 million people in the in the country are one step from famine levels of food insecurity and 27.3 million are facing acute levels of hunger.
Similarly, Amnesty International drew attention to the dangers of hunger and drought in Madagascar and urged donors, foreign governments and regional leaders to ramp up aid efforts to avert a potential humanitarian crisis in the country.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in New York opened an exhibit in memory of Turkish diplomats slain by Armenian terrorist groups between 1973 and 1984.
Russia launched mass production of combat robots, according to its Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO remains vigilant against Russian aggressive actions amid increased troop presence around Ukraine.
Source: Anadolu Agency