50,000 more Sinovac doses delivered to the north

Fifty thousand futher doses of the Sinovac coronavirus vaccine have been sent to the north from Turkey, it was announced on Friday.

The special flight from Turkey contained 26,000 first doses and 24,000 of the second.

Those who have taken two doses of Sinovac will after eight months receive a third vaccine, a Pfizer shot, ‘health minister’ Ounal Oustel said.

Turkey has sent a total of 240,000 doses of the Chinese vaccine to the north. In addition the bi-communal Technical Committee for Health has overseen the delivery of 24,700 doses of AstraZeneca, 2,100 doses of Johnson & Johnson and 10,350 doses of Pfizer to the north as part of numbers secured for Cyprus through the EU.

Oustel said plans are underway for 40,000 vaccinations to be given each week.

From next Tuesday everyone over the age of 20 will be able to receive the vaccine in the north, he said.

Meanwhile, a 57-year-old man died of Covid-19 in the north in Nicosia, it was announced on Friday.

The man was hospitalised on May 29 and suffered from diabetes, high blood pressure and was on a hemodialysis machine. He is the 35^th Covid-19-related death.