The coronavirus's omicron subvariant "Kraken," which is spreading rapidly in the United States, may spread in Türkiye as well as Europe.

Ministry of Health Coronavirus Scientific Committee member Afşin Emre Kayıpmaz said: "There are signs that the new variant is more contagious than the previous ones. But there is not enough data yet on whether it causes a more severe disease or a severe infection. So, there is nothing to worry about it at this stage."

Kayıpmaz said: "The 'Kraken-XBB.1.5' subvariant of COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in the United States," also pointing out that the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has included the new variant in the category of variants to be monitored and that it has been seen in North America recently, doubling the number of cases in nine days.

Providing information about the structure of the virus, Kayıpmaz said, "There is a mutation in the spike protein that allows the virus to enter the cells of the human lineage.

"There are signs that the new variant is more contagious than the others. But there is not enough data yet on whether it causes a more severe disease or severe infection. So there is nothing to worry about at this stage. But still, early warning and monitoring systems should be kept active so that it can be seen whether it will cause any change in the course of the cases. This new variant is gradually becoming the dominant variant in the European region. It may possibly become the dominant variant in our country in the coming days. Thanks to the widespread availability of the vaccine, it seems very unlikely that it will cause something to be feared like the first wild strain or delta variant from China."

Kayıpmaz underlined that, "SARS-Cov2, which causes RSV, Rhino virus and COVID-19 all of them are diseases with very similar symptoms and said that these are manifested by symptoms such as sore throat and headache, runny nose, weakness and fever, which are now mostly expressed as upper respiratory tract infections."

She also explained that there is no significant difference in the treatment of these viruses and that antibiotics are not included in the treatment of virus-borne infections. "There may be patients due to some bacterial agents. At this point, the decision of the physician is the most important. If the physician suspects only a bacterial infection, an antibiotic may be prescribed for him, but other than that, there is no routine use of antibiotics," she said.

"In the case of respiratory distress, pain in the ribs, a whistling-like sound when breathing and blue lips, the emergency room should be consulted. Because this may be a sign of a serious infection in the lower respiratory tract caused by infections.

Apart from this, we recommend using masks, especially in elevators, public transport and crowded places. Also, careful hygiene is recommended as well as ventilating closed environments frequently. People should also remember their booster doses of Turkovac," she said.