A coronavirus variant from India has been detected in Israel for the first time, the Ministry of Health announced on Friday.
The ministry said tensions were found among seven unvaccinated travelers returning from abroad to Israel. It was not specified where the seven came from.
According to the Ministry of Health, the variant was detected using genome sequencing.
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“There is still no clear information about the variant or its effect on the vaccinated and recovered,” reads a statement from the ministry.
India has confirmed the new and potentially troublesome variant of the coronavirus, which contains two mutations in the prickly protein that the virus uses to attach itself to cells. Dr. Rakesh Mishra, director of the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, said last month that these genetic modifications could be of concern as it could help the virus spread more easily and the immune system escape.
India is currently struggling with a huge increase in infections, and experts suspect that the rise of more contagious variants, including the one detected in the country, is suspected.
Passengers stand up for COVID-19 medical examination after arriving at a railway platform in Mumbai, India on 16 April 2021. (Punit Paranjpe / AFP)
The virus mutated throughout the pandemic. Most mutations are insignificant, but scientists have investigated what problems can make the virus spread more easily or make people sicker.
The three variants first detected in South Africa, Britain and Brazil are considered to be the most worrying. Most of these were the more contagious variant found in the UK last year. The widespread spread of the British tribe in Israel is blamed for the severity of the Jewish state’s third coronavirus wave earlier this year.
In a report last week, the Ministry of Health identified several countries as more likely to be a source of mutated coronavirus strains that may have greater resistance to current vaccines. The report did not mention India.
