Turkey daily Covid cases pass 14,000

Latest figure is sharp increase from about 4,000 daily cases in early July

A busy street in Ankara, Turkey, on June 29. Restrictions were removed two days later. AP

Turkey's daily Covid-19 cases surged past 14,000 on Sunday, marking the highest count since May.

"If we don't take measures and if we don't get vaccinated, it might take a very long time to stop the pandemic," Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted.

Turkey recorded 14,230 daily cases over the past 24 hours, a sharp increase from about 4,000 a day in early July.

The country of 83 million reported more than 60,000 cases a day in April, prompting the government to enforce a strict lockdown.

But the restrictions have been removed from July 1, bringing fears that the new surge will continue during the summer season.

Turkey has so far reported more than 5.5 million cases of the coronavirus and more than 50,000 deaths since the pandemic began.

About 39.4 million people have received their first dose of vaccine and more than 22.8 million their second dose.

The number of people who received a third shot has reached 3.8 million, official data shows.