People tend to stay indoors during winter and shopping malls are the top destination to spend time. However, the risk of infection increases in malls during the winter season because more often than not ventilation is not sufficient.

Commenting on the risk, Professor Mehmet Ceyhan, the head of the Infectious Diseases Association, said people should spend as little time as possible in shopping malls in winter and marked malls as "health-compromising places."

"If a child has chicken pox, it can infect another on a different floor because these infections are carried by little bubbles that cannot be seen by the human eye," Ceyhan said.

Viruses infect through the eyes and month. If one touches an infectious space and touches his/her eye afterward, the viruses are carried. Washing your hands is key during winter.

"When you are in a shopping mall, it is better to keep your hands clean as much as possible. However, it is hard to wash your hands all the time so keeping hand sanitizer in your bag is the best solution," he added.

"The most infectious places in shopping malls are the restaurant floors," said the professor. "As these floors are the common areas for fast consumption, the tables on the restaurant floors are not hygienic enough. Especially, when the mall is crowded, these tables host a different person every 15 minutes which leaves no time for proper cleaning. This leads to infections carried by food and manifests itself through nausea, vomiting, stomachache and diarrhea."