With the world still struggling to contain the Omicron variant, Israel has detected a new strain of the Coronavirus, the country’s health ministry has announced.
According to the official statement, the new variant has been detected through nasal swab sampling obtained from two passengers during random PCR testing at the Ben Gurion Airport.
Genomic sequencing of the samples revealed that the new variant is a combination of two of Omicron’s sub-variants—BA.1 and BA.2.
Both patients infected with the new variant have been quarantined as a preventive measure. The patients are experiencing mild symptoms including fever, headache, and body pain.
The statement does not clarify whether the two patients had arrived in the country or were set to depart it. In case it’s the latter, it can be deduced that the new variant originated from Israel.
Speaking in this regard, Israel’s COVID-19 Response Head, Salman Zarka, said that Israel is not worried about this new variant developing into a serious strain at this point.
The phenomenon of the emergence of new variants from the combination of two variants is not new. In January this year, Cyprus detected ‘Deltacron’ and Israel reported ‘Flurona.’
The former is a combination of Delta and Omicron variants of the Coronavirus while the latter resulted from the double infection of COVID-19 and flu.
