At the age of 81, Patriarch Bartholomew I, the head of Istanbul's Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, goes strong. The patriarch, who serves as spiritual leader of millions of Eastern Orthodox faithful across the globe, overcame the coronavirus, after recovering from a heart problem two months ago.

He was hospitalized in Istanbul, the seat of the patriarchate, last week, after he was infected with the omicron variant of the coronavirus. The patriarchate said in a statement that he was discharged from the hospital on Thursday but he would remain in isolation at his residence, in order to ensure participation in the upcoming Epiphany celebrations. The patriarchate also thanked Health Minister Fahrettin Koca who called the patriarch three times during his stay at hospital and assured his ministry's services for his health condition.

Media outlets reported that the patriarch had his two doses of the vaccine against COVID-19 earlier. Experts say a third dose is needed against the infection as the antibody levels provided by jabs decrease over time.

Turkey faces a new surge in COVID-19 infections as the daily number of cases rose above 30,000 for the first time in almost two months earlier this week. Last Tuesday, the Health Ministry reported the number had climbed to 32,176, while 184 people died in one day. The figure reflected a 30% surge in daily cases compared to Monday when the tally was still below 30,000.

Koca expressed concerns about the rise. "We made a significant accomplishment by bringing down the number of cases to around 20,000. Now, we are seeing that we entered a rising trend due to the rapid spread of the omicron variant. We are at a stage where we should be cautious and have our reminder doses as soon as possible," Koca tweeted earlier this week, referring to booster or third shots of vaccines that have been readily available nationwide since January 2021. He reassured the public that they would "succeed again" in decreasing the number of the cases.