ANKARA 

Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic and other news in Turkey and around the world.

The tally of COVID-19 vaccines administrated in Turkey topped 29.5 million as of Wednesday as the country’s vaccination drive continues at full speed. More than 16.58 million people have received their first doses, while over 12.48 million have been fully vaccinated, the Health Ministry’s count showed.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca continued to urge the society to get vaccinated, saying this summer would hopefully be the last one in which people had to wear masks.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Israel must end violence against Palestinians to establish better ties with Turkey, adding the two-state solution would help Israel have “healthier” ties.

Turkey’s parliament speaker reaffirmed the country’s support for the International Criminal Court’s probe against Israel, which attacked the Gaza Strip last month and killed hundreds of Palestinians.

At least three PKK terrorists were neutralized in Turkey’s southeastern Hakkari province, according to the Ministry of National Defense, which said they fired a rocket from Iran at Turkish teams carrying out mine detection work.

Meanwhile, a sit-in by families protesting the PKK terror group, which forcibly abducted their children, has entered its 639th day in Turkey’s southeastern Diyarbakir province.

With over a million people or about 73% of the city’s population vaccinated, Turkey’s tourism hub of Antalya is ready for the tourism season this summer.

COVID-19 outbreak

Tracking website Our World in Data has announced that more than 1.98 billion people across the world got their vaccine shots. China leads the global count with nearly 682 million jabs. Turkey ranks fourth in the list.

Three-quarters of UK adults have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced Wednesday during a speech in Oxford, England.

Also, Switzerland has removed Turkey from its list of COVID-19 risk countries.

As the EU gets closer to reaching its target of vaccinating 70% of its adult population, the bloc has so far administrated over 250 million vaccines.

Other developments

The Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF), a new group of civilian fighters, said at least 80 Myanmar soldiers were killed in clashes with anti-coup fighters in the country’s eastern Kayah state.

A Palestinian man succumbed to wounds he sustained two weeks ago from Israeli gunfire in the occupied West Bank.

The number of Azerbaijani soldiers who lost their lives in last year’s Karabakh conflict with Armenia has risen to 2,900, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

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