Omicron subvariant BA.5 became the dominant strain in Turkey, data shows

The peculiar situation was highlighted by Guclu Yaman, a member of the COVID-19 workgroup of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB). Referring to data from GISAID, a global initiative to track epidemics and pandemics, Yaman said, “Turkey shared the variant data for the last four weeks. BA.5 of the Omicron family continued to increase and became the dominant strain. 83 percent of the 303 samples taken between June 27 and July 11 came back as BA.5."

Türkiye son 4 haftaya ait varyant verilerini paylaşmış. Omicron ailesinden BA.5 varyantı artışını sürdürerek baskın varyant haline gelmiş. 27 Haziran-11 Temmuz arısında alınan 303 örnekten %83'ü BA.5 varyantı. https://t.co/KwU6bcl1QE pic.twitter.com/63SR0sVn2Z

— Güçlü Yaman (@GucluYaman) July 13, 2022

The Turkish Medical Association workgroup member previously highlighted that European countries also showed a similar pattern in which the BA.5 subvariant replaces the BA.2 as the dominant strain. “A similar process begins in Turkey in the second half of May, with the last data being submitted on June 13,” he said.

2- Verileri daha güncel ve güvenilir olan Avrupa ülkeleriyle kıyaslandığında benzer bir şablon görülüyor. BA.2'nin yerini alan varyantlar arasında BA.5 baskın hale geliyor. Türkiye'de de Mayıs'ın ikinci yarısında benzer bir süreç başlıyor. Son veri 13 Haziran'dan. pic.twitter.com/rKda3GHI5C

— Güçlü Yaman (@GucluYaman) July 5, 2022

On June 28, roughly during the same period when the BA.5 became the dominant strain in Turkey, Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca said “rest assured, the bad days are over.”