Covid-19 case in China customs delays vaccine delivery to Turkey

The delivery of Chinese coronavirus vaccines to Turkey has been postponed for "one or two days."

The latest snag was caused by an emergency in Beijing customs due to the discovery of a novel coronavirus case there, Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter on Sunday.

As a result of the incident, customs functions were temporarily suspended, Koca explained.

The first batch of 3 million doses of the Chinese SinoVac vaccine had been expected to arrive in Turkey on December 28.

READ MORE: China's Sinovac gets funding to boost production of Covid-19 vaccine

State of emergency

Beijing has tightened Covid-19 curbs over concerns that China’s mass travel during the holiday period could cause cases to spike in the capital, as it reported locally transmitted cases for a fourth straight day on Sunday.

A meeting led by the capital’s Communist party boss, Cai Qi, urged all districts in Beijing to enter an “emergency” mode, sealing off residential compounds and villages where infections are found.

Shunyi district, where all Beijing’s recent coronavirus cases have been reported, has declared a wartime mode and testing for all its 800,000 people. All the cases reported on Saturday were close contacts of previous cases.

Shunyi district is located in the northeast of the capital and near Beijing Capital International Airport.

Also, some airport employees reportedly reside in Shunyi.

China has largely brought the coronavirus under control but sporadic cases are resurfacing in a small number of cities. Authorities plan to vaccinate 50 million people in high-risk groups before the week-long Lunar New Year holidays from February 11, said state media Global Times.