Turkey sends 40,000 more vaccine doses to North Cyprus

LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

Turkey sent 40,000 more doses of a coronavirus vaccine early Tuesday to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

A Turkish Health Ministry plane carrying the vaccine doses landed at Ercan International Airport in Lefkosa, where officials of the TRNC’s Health Ministry received the shipment.

With the latest delivery, Turkey has provided the TRNC with 140,000 vaccine doses to date.

"We continue our struggle against COVID-19 with our people and the support of Turkey. A total of 40,000 more doses of the Sinovac vaccine will arrive from motherland Turkey tonight. We heartily thank our motherland Turkey," said TRNC Prime Minister Ersan Saner on Twitter.

The number of COVID-19 cases recorded in the TRNC is over 3,900, including 24 deaths and more than 3,000 recoveries.

The island of Cyprus has been divided into the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the north and the Greek Cypriot administration in the south since 1974 when a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island was followed by violence against the island’s Turks and Ankara’s intervention as a guarantor power.