Ankara, Feb 2 (IANS): Turkey has vaccinated at least 2,137,000 people in the country against the novel coronavirus after inoculation began last month, according to health authorities.

The country started mass inoculation of health workers fon January 14 after the authorities approved the emergency use of the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine, reports Xinhua news agency.

After the country completes the mass vaccination, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Monday that schools will gradually begin in-person classes as of March 1 in line with the number of COVID-19 cases.

According to the President, the government has planned the resumption of in-person classes for schools in villages as of February 15.

Turkey on Monday reported 7,719 new Covid-19 cases, including 636 symptomatic patients, increasing the overall infection tally to 2,485,182, the Health Ministry announced.

The death toll rose by 124 to 26,117, while the total recoveries climbed to 2,370,431.

The infection rate stands at 4.9 per cent and the number of seriously ill patients is 1,615 in the country, said the Ministry.

Turkey reported its first Covid-19 case on March 11, 2020.