Israel confirms 7 cases of Omicron variant, 27 others suspected

Israel’s health ministry confirmed seven cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus on Friday. The ministry said it has a “high suspicion” that another 27 identified cases of the virus are also the new variant.

Israel’s Health Ministry said Friday it has confirmed seven cases of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus, stoking fears of a pending surge in infections. Four of the confirmed cases are unvaccinated individuals who had recently returned from South Africa.

The other three include two people who returned from South Africa and from Britain and who had received two doses and a booster shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The third person returned from Malawi and had been inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.