First 6 Cases of Omicron Variant Detected in Turkey

Turkey detected the first six cases of the Omicron variant on Saturday, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca reported.

Five of the cases were in the western city of Izmir and one in the largest city of Istanbul, but none of those affected needed hospital treatment, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported Koca as saying.

Two weeks ago, Turkey closed its borders to passengers from South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe as a measure to fight the new coronavirus variant.

On Saturday, the number of new coronavirus cases in Turkey reached 19,255, with a daily death toll of 191. The daily case numbers have fallen from a level of around 30,000 in October.

In November, the World Health Organization (WHO) renamed the new B.1.1.529 strain of COVID-19 Omicron.

“Based on the evidence presented indicative of a detrimental change in Covid-19 epidemiology… the WHO has designated B.1.1.529 as a variant of concern, named Omicron,” the U.N. health agency said in a statement.