Turkey taking measures against large NYE gatherings: President

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government is taking all the necessary measures to prevent large gatherings during New Year's Eve in an effort to curb the further spread of the novel coronavirus.

Speaking to reporters here after the Friday prayers, Erdogan said security forces would not tolerate New Year's Eve parties in hotels, villas, or any accommodation facilities, Xinhua news agency reported.

"It is not possible that we would allow these," the President added.

The Turkish leader also noted that the vaccination process in the country would be carried out with vaccines from China and Germany.

"When the vaccines arrive, we will be vaccinated with all our colleagues," Erdogan said.

On Thursday, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca had announced said the shipment of 3 million doses of a Chinese Covid-19 vaccine would arrive on December 28.

The government signed an agreement for the procurement of up to 50 million doses, which would be delivered by the end of February 2021, the Minister said.

Koca also added that Turkey is conducting talks with Pfizer-BioNTech for 4.5 million doses of its vaccine to be obtained by the end of March.

As of Saturday, Turkey has reported a total of 2,118,255 confirmed coronavirus cases and 19,371 deaths.