Turkey's COVID-19 cases double in 10 days

The number of COVID-19 cases in Turkey doubled in the past 10 days, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Friday.

But there was only an increase of 4.6 percent in hospitalizations, Koca said on his Twitter account.

Turkey on Friday reported 40,786 new COVID-19 cases, raising its tally of infections to 9,482,550, according to its health ministry.

The death toll from the virus rose by 163 to 82,361, while 23,968 more people recovered in the last 24 hours.

Turkey has started the mass COVID-19 vaccination on Jan. 14 after the authorities approved the emergency use of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine.

Nearly 57 million Turkish people have received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, and over 51.6 million have got their second doses. Turkey has so far administered 131.64 million doses including the third booster jabs.