First cases of Delta Plus coronavirus variant have been registered in Turkey, the country’s Health Minister, Fahrettin Koca, told newsmen on Tuesday, adding that the separate Delta variant had also been identified in some 284 cases across 30 provinces.

“Delta plus variant was registered in three provinces, including Istanbul. “In all cases, the patients were not vaccinated. Their condition is good, there is no hospitalisation,” Koca said.

Health authorities say several major vaccines work against the highly contagious Delta variant, which is becoming globally dominant, but have raised concern new strains may evade some vaccines.

Turkey, which eased most restrictions on July 1, has reported nearly 5.5 million COVID-19 cases and some 50,000 deaths in total. A vaccination programme has ramped up to more than a million shots per day.

Turkey’s vaccine programme began in January with shots developed by Sinovac and has since also been using vaccines by Pfizer and Biontech, and Russia’s Sputnik V.

Koca said Turkey currently had some 8 million shots and would receive another 26 million Pfizer-BioNtech doses this month, and 1.5 million doses of Sinovac next week.

He said Turkey aimed to administer the first dose of a vaccine to some 43 million people by the Eid al-Adha holiday on July 20, accounting for 70% of the country’s adult population.

“The vaccine doses received up to now are enough and the ones we have on hand are also enough,” Koca said.

Turkey has delivered 53 million shots in total with 15.92 million people having received a second dose out of a population of around 84 million.