Ankara, Jun 24 (IANS): Turkey will lower the Covid-19 vaccination eligibility age to 18 starting from Friday onwards, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

The government aims to administer at least the first doses of vaccine to 70 per cent of its population before mid-July, Koca said at a press conference here on Wednesday after a meeting of the coronavirus scientific board.

Turkey started mass vaccination against Covid-19 on January 14 after the authorities approved the emergency use of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, reports Xinhua news agency.

More than 29,904,000 people have been vaccinated till date.

Turkey has so far reported 5,387,545 and 49,358 deaths, while the total recoveries climbed to 5,248,862.

The rate of pneumonia in Covid infected patients stands at 2.9 per cent and the number of seriously ill patients is 763 in the country, said the Health Ministry.

Turkey reported its first Covid-19 case on March 11, 2020.