ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey is in talks with Russia, Germany and China about conducting Phase 3 trials for coronavirus vaccines developed in those countries, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Wednesday.

Germany and China have applied to conduct the Phase 3 trials in Turkey and have presented pre-clinical trial results, while Ankara wants to see pre-clinical results from Russia before the trials, Koca said.

Speaking at a news conference in Ankara, he said there were 13 vaccines being developed in Turkey, three of which have gone beyond the animal testing phase.

Turkey’s coronavirus cases have been on the rise in recent weeks. On Wednesday, Turkey recorded 1,303 cases, the highest daily level since the end of June, according to official data.

A total of 253,108 COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the country. The number of those who have recovered stood at 233,915 as of Wednesday, while 6,039 have died.

Turkey mostly lifted a partial lockdown on June 1. For three weeks last month, new cases had hovered just under 1,000.

Ankara recently imposed fines for those who do not wear masks and maintain social distancing in public.

(Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Giles Elgood)

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