Israel detects new COVID-19 variant — All you need to know about it

• Israel reports two cases of a new COVID-19 variant on Wednesday.
• The new variant identified is not worrisome as other variants, says the Health Ministry.
• This new variant is the combination of two sub-variants of the Omicron strain — dubbed BA.1 and BA.2.

Israel’s health ministry, on Wednesday, announced that it had detected two cases of a new COVID-19 variant. However, the new variant identified is not worrisome as other variants.

The health ministry further informed that this new variant is the combination of two sub-variants of the Omicron strain — dubbed BA.1 and BA.2. This variant was reported in two passengers at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport while doing the PCR test.

“ This variant is still unknown around the world,” said the ministry in a statement.

Israel’s pandemic response chief Salman Zarka said, “The phenomenon of combined variants is well known. At this stage, we are not worried about it leading to serious cases.”

“Israel will also not lift more COVID-19 restrictions amid rising infections in several locations around the world,” the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement on Thursday.

Following a consultation meeting with health officials, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz decided that the mask mandate will not be lifted, but the measure will be reviewed again in April.

Symptoms of this new variant

Talking about the symptoms of the new variant, the ministry said the two cases suffered mild symptoms only and didn't require any special medical response. These symptoms were seen —

1. Fever
   
2. Headache
   
3. Muscle dystrophy

From where did this variant originate?

The ministry has not conducted the research yet, so it is still unknown where this variant came from.

Israel has so far inoculated four million COVID-19 doses out of the population of 9.2 million people. The country also recorded 1.4 million cases of COVID-19 infection and 8,244 deaths to date.

The Israeli government has administered three COVID-19 vaccines to its people and will start the fourth vaccine dose to people over 60 years and health workers.

Last month, Israel also announced that unvaccinated tourists would now be allowed to enter as the country eased down the COVID restrictions. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that the country was seeing a ‘consistent decline in morbidity data, hence decided to reopen the border.

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