Turkey is going through a heightened COVID-19 pandemic with the number of daily cases breaking new records due to the fast-spreading omicron variant. However, there are silver linings on the horizon for the country as well. For one, Istanbul, the country’s most crowded city, is experiencing a relative drop in the number of hospitalizations from coronavirus, a relief for the health care system. Secondly, adverse weather characterized by heavy snowfall has curbed socialization, something attributed to the rising number of cases, especially in Anatolia.

Istanbul held records in the number of daily cases in recent weeks, straining the health care system in the city of more than 15 million people. Yet, cases appear to have peaked and now a decline may follow.

Experts were also worried about a rise in the number of cases in Anatolian cities where a large number of people traveled to and from during the midterm school holiday which began last month and will end next week. Still, authorities believe that the pandemic in those cities is "manageable" as it does not pose a risk of putting pressure on the health care system.

Heavy snowfall which continued for days and freezing temperatures prevalent across most cities, especially in eastern and northern provinces, also contributed to a decline in the number of cases. Transportation shutdowns due to the bad weather forced people to stay at home, just like in the first two years of the pandemic where curfews were frequent and gatherings at homes and crowded places were limited. It effectively put breaks on the speed of infections and authorities expect the situation to linger as winter conditions are anticipated to remain in force throughout this month as well.

Although the number of daily cases is exceptionally high, omicron’s comparative mildness and mass vaccination have helped in reducing the severity of cases. Experts say current daily numbers are not as devastating as they were in the spring of 2021, when the cases reached around 60,000 and were more severe in nature, forcing the government to impose lockdowns. Yet, they are worried about the high number of people lacking booster shots, required for full protection against omicron. So far, about 24 million people still do not have booster shots.

Since the vaccination program was launched in January 2021, more than 141 million doses have been administered. The number of people with two doses of vaccine exceeded 52 million.

A new record

On Wednesday, the country reported the highest daily cases at 110,682, while daily fatalities stood at 217, exceeding 200 for the first time in weeks.

Speaking on the latest figures, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted: "100,000 cases today do not have the same strength as the 100,000 cases six months or one year ago. Most cases are of the omicron variant and the disease is mild. We will overcome this by adhering to personal measures and getting vaccinated."

Koca chaired a meeting of his ministry’s Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board on Wednesday evening and said in a written statement following the meeting that almost all current cases in the country were of the omicron variant as indicated by the nationwide gene sequencing study.

"Istanbul was the first city with omicron cases and also had the fastest spreading rate. The daily number of cases has been around 40,000 for a while but in the past two weeks, they dropped below 20,000 in Istanbul. Similarly, Eskişehir (in central Turkey) was one of the first provinces with clusters of omicron cases but the number of cases dropped by one-third in the past two weeks. Even though rises are evident in other cities, we will see a similar decline in the near future," he highlighted.

He said that although Turkey’s strong health infrastructure did not have "infinite" capacity and the occupancy rates of hospitals in some provinces reached challenging levels, the overall situation was fine. He added that the occupancy rate at intensive care units was 68.7% and the overall occupancy rate at hospitals was 57.8%, while that of ventilators allocated for coronavirus patients was only 31%. "We still predict that the current course of the pandemic will not be a challenge for the hospitals," he said.

Koca also announced that the antiviral pill molnupiravir will be administered to early-stage COVID-19 patients over age 65 or with chronic illnesses as of next week. "The pandemic affects citizens at the age of 65 and above most. They need protection. Booster shots are a precious step for this protection. We should not neglect getting booster shots and those citizens should not neglect the booster shots as well," he said. The minister added that they also started shipping new doses of domestically developed Turkovac to hospitals and were monitoring any side effects, stressing that no serious side effects were reported so far. "All citizens can get their Turkovac dose without hesitation," he said.