Israel announces discovery of new Covid variant

The Israeli Ministry of Health yesterday revealed that it had discovered a new “unidentified” variant of Covid, with two travellers infected by it at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv.

The ministry said in a statement that the “light symptoms” of the virus combine and that the two infected individuals had symptoms such as fever, headache and muscle pain.

However, it stated that it continues to follow up on these two cases with the aim of identifying more symptoms of the new variant.

Official Israeli radio quoted the head of the health ministry’s coronavirus taskforce, Salman Zarka, as saying that “the phenomenon of combined variants is well known. At this point, we’re not concerned about [the new variant leading to] serious cases.”

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Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced his intention to hold a meeting with officials in the Ministry of Health, following the increase in the number of covid cases around the world.

At the beginning of February, Israel ended covid restrictions and the requirement to show vaccination status before going to cafes, restaurants, bars, gyms and hotels, but it kept this procedure in other places such as concert halls and cinemas, according to France24.

It is expected that the Israeli government will make a decision in the coming days to abandon PCR tests for travellers entering the country.