COVID-19 Subvariant BA.5 Spreading Fast in Turkey

COVID-19 cases are surging in Turkey, largely due to the spread of the omicron subvariant BA.5, which spreads faster than earlier variants, even outdoors. Although BA.5 is more contagious than previous variants, it is not more deadly. The World Health Organization has described BA.5 as a “variant of concern.” Turkey’s Health Ministry reported Saturday that there were more than 406,000 new COVID-19 cases and 337 deaths during the week of July 25-Aug. 1; the previous week saw 365,000 new cases and 157 related deaths.

Turkey’s seven-day rolling average of daily new cases now stands at 684.7 per million people – the second-highest in the MENA region after Cyprus (872.44 daily new cases per million people). Turkey has the MENA region’s fifth-highest seven-day rolling average number of daily deaths per million people, at 0.57, below Iran (0.74), Tunisia (0.75), Israel (0.89), and the region’s worst by far, Cyprus (4.46 daily deaths per million).

Turkey’s cumulative death toll from COVID-19 stands at nearly 99,678, with 16.3 million cases diagnosed since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) wants to government to bring back preventive measures such as an indoor mask mandate. The TTB said Turkey had a low rate of acceptance of the third and fourth vaccine doses and recommended precautions in particular for people with obesity, cancer or diabetes. The elderly and people with chronic diseases should have booster shots if their last vaccination was more than six months ago.