The deal, which will start in May, will take six months to materialize, Koca detailed at a press conference.

Acknowledging difficulties in the availability of other preparations during the next two months, which will be resolved later, the Minister said that the time between the first and second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech (American-German) drug had been extended from six to eight weeks.

He also set out that in the next few days they will begin a 3rd Phase clinical trial for one of their preparations.

Regarding a strain of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus detected in India, the minister said that it has already been found in five people in Istanbul, the country’s main city.

The cases are being followed in isolation, Koca indicated without referring to specific complications.

Turkey has reported over 4.71 million Covid-19 cases since the onset of the pandemic, including 39,000 deaths.

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