The Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday that a case of the AY4.2 variant of COVID-19, which has been detected in several European countries, has been identified in Israel.
A subvariant of the Delta coronavirus mutation raising alarm bells in the United Kingdom has been found in a child who entered Israel from Moldova, health officials said Tuesday.
The AY4.2 is being closely monitored by officials in the UK, and others have called for urgent research into the subvariant, though health officials say there is no evidence yet that it is driving an uptick in coronavirus cases in some places.
Scientists say no evidence it is more dangerous than Delta, but are watching it closely.
The variant which was identified in an 11-year-old who returned from abroad and was identified already at Ben Gurion Airport, is currently in isolation and as of now no further verified contacts have been discovered. The investigation is ongoing.
The Ministry of Health regularly monitors all types of variants and their development.
On Monday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett decided, based on the recommendation of the Ministry of Health, to expand the implementation of the “Green Classroom” outline.
Starting next Sunday, the outline will be extended to “green” and “yellow” cities in full, including kindergartens and day care centers.
For “orange” and “red” cities, a separate outline will be formulated by the Ministries of Health and Education and will be presented soon.
Source: Arutz Sheva