Israel on Saturday announced four cases of the highly contagious South African coronavirus (COVID-19) strain, the first in the country.
The mutated variant was discovered after an advanced testing program on a traveller who recently returned from South Africa and family members of another individual who had travelled from there, Israel’s Health Ministry said.
Israel had ordered all visitors from the United Kingdom and South Africa, where the new strains of the virus have been spreading, to enter state-run hotels for isolation. Their test samples are sent for advanced checks.
The Health Ministry emphasized that although the variant was more contagious, there was no evidence that it causes more severe illness.
However, the UK and South African variants are causing global concern.
Israel has 65,008 active cases, 920 of which are in serious condition. The country’s death toll is 3,596.