Turkey seeks vigilance against omicron, a new variant of the deadly coronavirus, as it takes hold in the country. According to Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, it could take only a few weeks before the variant makes up the majority of COVID-19 cases. The minister told the Sabah newspaper that one in every four coronavirus cases stemmed from omicron. "This is a fast-spreading variant that can easily infect the people," he warned.

Koca had announced last month that omicron accounted for 10% of total cases and has since revised this number to 25%. "It won't be surprising if one in every three cases become omicron in one week or ten days," he said, expressing his concerns.

The country lifted most restrictions to curb the coronavirus pandemic last summer and authorities repeatedly say that there won't be new restrictions like the curfews and lockdowns that confined millions to their homes last year. Several measures, however, are in place, including mandatory mask rules, social distancing and hygiene measures. Those not wearing masks and who fail to comply with social distancing in crowded places are subject to fines. Other measures include a ban on the unvaccinated for entry to potentially crowded venues if they do not produce a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result. People are also tracked through a Hayat Eve Sığar (Life Fits Into Home or HES) code assigned to each citizen.

The minister is quoted by Sabah as saying that the current social distancing rule – that is, keeping at least a two-meter distance from others indoors and outdoors – may not be sufficient to prevent infections in the case of omicron. "This new variant can infect you even if you are a long distance from others, especially in enclosed spaces," he said. Koca said personal protective measures, well known by the public already, could help, highlighting the increased risk of infections especially indoors and in places without proper ventilation.

Other than those measures, vaccination is the only option to mitigate omicron infections. Koca says that although the vaccinated can be infected as well with the new variant, those with boosters had a "very low rate" of hospitalization or severe cases once they were infected with omicron. "Given the fast rise in the number of cases, protection provided by third doses is important," he said. Turkey recently added Turkovac, a locally developed inactive vaccine to Pfizer-BioNTech's messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine and Sinovac's inactive vaccine, which have been available to the Turkish public since January 2021.

Koca, meanwhile, points out a silver lining in the pandemic. "We predict that the coronavirus would be reduced to a seasonal flu when a new, less infectious and dangerous variant emerges. As a matter of fact, it is predicted that the efficacy of vaccines and newly developed drugs, as well as prevalence of omicron (which is milder than earlier variants) may bring an end to the pandemic," he said.

Still, experts are not certain over the impact of omicron. Professor Alper Şener, a member of the Health Ministry's Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board, told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Saturday that they did not know whether the hospitalizations and fatalities would maintain a stable rate when omicron becomes the dominant variant. Şener said the number of daily cases exceeded 30,000 again two months after they had seen a decline and the culprits were omicron, delta and delta plus variants emerging in the country.

"Make no mistake. Delta and delta plus will not disappear when omicron rises. We see a rise in delta and delta plus cases as well," he warned. He urged the public not to relax measures upon the lower hospitalization rate. "People may think that omicron is less harmful, seeing mild cases prevalent in other countries. But bear in mind that the vaccination rates in those countries are higher than in Turkey," he added. Şener also voiced concerns on a rise in influenza cases, which indicate "people do not heed the mask and social distancing rules as we expected."

Vaccination rates have risen considerably since Turkey opened up its vaccination program to all age groups in summer 2021 to stave off future coronavirus surges. So far, more than 132 million doses of vaccines have been administered, while more than 51 million people now have two doses of the vaccine. According to a list published by the Health Ministry on Saturday, the southern province of Osmaniye has the highest vaccination rate, at 87%, ahead of Ordu, Amasya and Muğla. The southeastern province of Şanlıurfa had the lowest rate, at around 60%, while other eastern and southeastern provinces including Batman, Siirt, Diyarbakır, Bingöl, Muş, Mardin, Bitlis, Ağrı and Elazığ followed it.