The Health Ministry on Monday released figures related to the weekly incidence of COVID-19 in 81 provinces of Turkey, for the week between Feb. 12 and Feb. 18. The figures show a relative decline in cases per 100,000 people. Istanbul, the most populous city, reported just 617 cases per 100,000 while this number was around 1,216 for the capital Ankara and about 776 for the third-largest city Izmir.

Istanbul had 717 cases in the first week of February while Ankara and Izmir had 1,323 and 1,017 cases, respectively.

Amasya, a Black Sea province, had the distinction of being both the province with the highest number of cases with 1,961 and the province with the sharpest surge. Provinces in the Black Sea region overall had the highest number of cases, compared to the country's other regions, with the majority being in the eastern parts of the region reporting weekly cases above 1,000 per 100,000, including Amasya’s neighbors Samsun and Tokat, which had 1,606 and 1,336 cases, respectively.

The ten provinces with the sharpest increases were Amasya, Kırşehir, Aksaray, Denizli, Yozgat, Çorum, Samsun, Tunceli, Eskişehir and Artvin. Sparsely populated provinces in eastern Turkey, again, reported the lowest weekly cases. Bingöl had the lowest incidence, with around 74 cases per 100,000, while Antalya had the distinction of being the only province in the rest of the country with weekly cases below 150.

Turkey was challenged by the omicron variant, which has contributed to a steep rise in the number of daily cases since January. After breaking daily records last month, the country appears to be easing into a new phase in the pandemic, with a decline in daily cases. On Sunday, daily cases dropped to around 69,000, a far cry from more than 111,000 in early February. A decline in the cases was something expected, thanks to the increasing vaccination rate and growing mass immunity. Experts predict that case numbers will decrease further later this month while the high numbers earlier this month were attributed to a midterm holiday break for schools that saw higher mobility between and within cities.

Professor Tevfik Özlü, a member of the Health Ministry’s Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board, said that though the virus is "losing its strength," it is still "deadly." Indeed, daily fatalities remain high despite the decline in cases. Deaths rarely decrease below 200 and were reported as 206 on Sunday. Overall fatalities since the onset of the pandemic in the country in March 2020 exceeded 91,000.

Özlü told Demirören News Agency (DHA) on Monday that though the pandemic is not as it was once, the public should not think that it is over. "We still have to be cautious. We can overcome it with the least damage if we take personal measures to protect ourselves and the people around us," he said. Özlü added the summer would be better in terms of cases as infections tend to decrease in times when people spend more time outdoors.

"We have to be careful and wear our masks and keep our distance. You should not spend much time indoors if you are in a crowded venue," Özlü advised.

He added that the pandemic was more manageable now and life was more normalized. "You don’t have to stay at home now but you should act within social responsibility rules and be careful not to infect others," he highlighted.

Turkey is relying on its vaccination program, which has reached more than 145 million doses since it was launched in 2021. The number of people with two doses of vaccine exceeds 52.8 million while another 27 million were administered with a third dose of the vaccine. The Health Ministry urges the public to get their booster shots as two doses of vaccines are seen as insufficient for full protection against infection.