The latest weekly figures from the Health Ministry show that the number of coronavirus cases per every 100,000 people increased in Turkey’s most populated city Istanbul. The capital Ankara as well as the western province of Izmir – third-largest in the country – on the other hand, posted declines.

Case numbers for the period between Nov. 6 and Nov.12 show Istanbul had an average of 308 cases per every 100,000 people. This number was around 241 in Ankara and about 68 in Izmir. Tunceli, Osmaniye, Çanakkale, Kırklareli, Balıkesir, Bilecik, Hatay, Tekirdağ, Adana and Bartın were the top ten provinces showing the sharpest rises in weekly cases.

Turkey is continuing to pursue an ambitious vaccination program against COVID-19 and has managed to administer nearly 120 million doses since the program began in January 2021. More than 50 million people have received two doses of vaccines, though more is needed to achieve mass immunity, the only way to curb the impact of the pandemic.

After a lull, daily coronavirus cases have climbed in recent months. On Saturday, the country reported 23,347 new cases and 201 fatalities.