Turkey lowers coronavirus vaccine eligibility age to 40

Turkey has lowered the vaccine eligibility age to 40, the Turkish health minister announced on June 13.

"If you are 40 or older, you can make an appointment as of this morning. We expect 100% participation," Fahrettin Koca wrote on Twitter.

Koca said earlier that nearly 450,000 coronavirus vaccine doses were administrated on June 12.

"A total of 449,684 vaccine jabs given on Saturday, June 12. 99.485% of those who made an appointment for vaccination came and had their vaccines," he said.

"We are one step closer to normal life. Thanks," he added.

Turkey administered over 33 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since it launched a mass vaccination campaign in mid-January, Health Ministry announced on June 12.

More than 19.39 million people have received their first doses, while 13.61 million have been fully vaccinated, according to the ministry data.

On June 11, the country administered a total of 578,762 doses of COVID-19 vaccines over the past day, official figures showed.

Turkey has added cargo workers, couriers and employees of intracity and intercity transportation, as well as workers of taxi and minibus services to COVID-19 vaccine priority groups.

To contain the spread of the virus, Turkey is currently implementing a curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. from Monday to Saturday, and a full lockdown on Sundays.