The Health Ministry on Monday released figures related to the weekly incidence of COVID-19 in 81 provinces of Turkey, for the week between Feb. 12 and Feb. 18.
The figures show a relative decline in cases per 100,000 people. Istanbul, the most populous city, reported just 617 cases per 100,000 while this number was around 1,216 for the capital Ankara and about 776 for the third-largest city Izmir.
Istanbul had 717 cases in the first week of February while Ankara and Izmir had 1,323 and 1,017 cases, respectively.
Amasya, a Black Sea province, had the distinction of being both the province with the highest number of cases with 1,961 and the province with the sharpest surge. Provinces in the Black Sea region overall had the highest number of cases, compared to the country’s other regions, with the majority being in the eastern parts of the region reporting weekly cases above 1,000 per 100,000, including Amasya’s neighbors Samsun and Tokat, which had 1,606 and 1,336 cases, respectively.
The ten provinces with the sharpest increases were Amasya, Kırşehir, Aksaray, Denizli, Yozgat, Çorum, Samsun, Tunceli, Eskişehir and Artvin. Sparsely populated provinces in eastern Turkey, again, reported the lowest weekly cases. Bingöl had the lowest incidence, with around 74 cases per 100,000, while Antalya had the distinction of being the only province in the rest of the country with weekly cases below 150.
Turkey was challenged by the omicron variant, which has contributed to a steep rise in the number of daily cases since January. After breaking daily records last month, the country appears to be easing into a new phase in the pandemic, with a decline in daily cases.COVID-19 cases drop in Turkey’s big cities
