We aim to vaccinate 300 thousand people by April - TRNC Minister of Health

The government of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus plans to vaccinate at least 300 thousand people by the end of April, said Minister of Heath, Ali Pilli. 

We have the capacity to achieve this goal. We can administer vaccinations at 27 centres including the Dr Burhan Nalbantoğlu State Hospital, Pilli said in an interview with the Turkish state-run Anadolu News Agency.

The vaccination drive in the TRNC is continuing full steam with citizens and residents above the age of 65, health professionals and seniors at care centres receiving their second boost jabs.

The TRNC has so far obtained 80,000 doses of Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine from Turkey and 4,500 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine from the EU.        

Pilli in another interview with local TV BRT noted that the number of cases were brought down thanks to the measures being taken. 

He said cases are now under control and called on the public to obey rules put in place.

Cases are now under control however we should continue to be cautious. Everyone should do their part while we are opening to prevent another lockdown. Let us obey the rules so that we can open on February 22 without having to go through another lockdown again, he said.

He noted that the new variant virus was more contagious, adding that “experts are saying that this new variant virus will peak in March. 

If we take the necessary measures, we can prevent this peak. We should all do our part to achieve this. This week is a test for everyone. If we follow the measures, we will not have a new increase in the cases. The opening will be considered according to the number of cases in the coming days, he added. 

Pilli also reminded that the decisions regarding lockdown and opening were being taken through consultations with the Higher Committee for Infectious Diseases and according to data. Stressing that PCR testing will continue in various parts of the country.

He said they were working towards keeping the number of daily testing above 5 thousand. Pilli also reminded that 75 thousand antigen tests will arrive in the country from the EU within this week. 

The Health Minister said that that they aimed to vaccinate 100 thousand people by the end of February adding that they wanted to open all closed sectors by vaccinating the whole population by the end of March or the beginning of April. 

We are experiencing some problems in vaccination process. We have increased the number of vaccine centres from 25 to 27.

We are in good dialogue with the local administrations. 80 thousand Sinovac Vaccines have been sent to the country and most of the people over 65 have already been vaccinated. We will soon start the vaccination of people with chronical diseases, Pilli added.