Turkey issues Omicron warning as daily Covid cases exceed 30,000 for first time in two months

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Dec. 28 issued a warning about the spread of the Omicron variant as the country's daily virus cases passed 30,000 for the first time in two months.

Tuesday December 28 2021 10:14 pm

Reuters

Daily new coronavirus cases in Turkey jumped beyond 30,000 on Dec. 28 for the first time since Oct. 19, data showed, as the Health Minister warned of the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

Turkey recorded 32,176 cases and 184 deaths on Dec. 28, the Health Ministry data showed. Tuesday's cases are the highest since Oct. 12.

Turkey's daily case levels have been below or about 20,000 in December, down from about 30,000 in October. New infections surged 30% on Dec. 27 to above 25,000.

"Due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, it can be seen we are now entering a rising trend," Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter, urging Turks to get vaccinated and receive their booster shots.

Vaka sayılarını 20 bin düzeyine indirmek ciddi bir başarıydı. Omicron varyantının hızlı yayılması sebebiyle şimdi bir artış trendine girildiği görülüyor. Dikkatli olmayı, hatırlatma dozlarını bir an evvel yaptırmayı gerektiren bir dönemdeyiz. Şüpheniz olmasın. YİNE BAŞARACAĞIZ. pic.twitter.com/GJ1YZfoTxV
— Dr. Fahrettin Koca (@drfahrettinkoca) December 28, 2021

At the weekend, Koca said that more than 10% of COVID-19 cases in Turkey were caused by Omicron. It announced its first six Omicron cases on Dec. 11.

Last week, Turkey's domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine, Turkovac, received emergency use authorization from Turkish authorities.

Turkey has already administered more than 130 million doses of vaccines using shots developed by China's Sinovac and by Pfizer/BioNTech.