The number of Israelis suspected of being infected with the new Omicron COVID variant rose to 34 on Tuesday, with two Israelis confirmed to be carriers of the variant. Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, the head of the Health Ministry’s Public Health division, said on Tuesday that the Omicron variant is alarming, Yisrael Hayom reported. “There’s no chance the vaccine will be as effective against Omicron as it is against Delta,” she said at a Knesset committee meeting. “We must buy time to understand the new variant, whether it is deadly and if it harms children.” “What worries us the most is the rapid spread of the mutation in South Africa. The number of cases went from 200 to 2,000 in just two days. They described how one person infected many others, both vaccinated and unvaccinated. From what we hear, vaccinated individuals do not exhibit significant symptoms, but this is just preliminary data … it will take a few weeks to know more.” Data shows that hospitalizations due to COVID have increased by 330% in South Africa’s Gauteng region, where the variant was first found. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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