Israel detects new Covid-19 variant, everything you need to know
A new Covid-19 variant has been detected in Israel on Wednesday. The country confirmed two cases of the variant which is still unknown, Israel’s ministry of health said in a statement.
As per reports, the new strain combines two sub-variants of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, BA.1 and BA.2. The reports also said that the hybrid versions of Covid which combine two variants have also been found before as in the case of Deltacron which combined Delta and Omicron variants.
Everything you need to know about the new Covid-19 variant
According to reports, both the cases that have been reported in Israel have shown mild symptoms of headaches, fever, and muscular dystrophy. The infected passengers are teenagers who had arrived at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport during PCR tests.
Israeli health experts said that it is common to get combined strains and it happens when there are two viruses in the same cell. They further exchange genetic material and multiply which creates a new virus. On the other hand, Israel’s Covid response head Salman Zarka said that the phenomenon of combined variants is well-known and at this stage, they are not worried about it leading to serious cases. He also hoped that the situation will return to normal.
Back in January, Israel detected a double infection of Covid-19 and Influenza, florona. The first case of florona was detected in an unvaccinated pregnant woman.
Meanwhile, as many as 2,539 new Covid-19 cases were recorded in India on Wednesday. With this, the total tally of coronavirus infections has surged to 4,30,01,47. The death count reached 5,16,132, as per the data released by the health ministry of India. The nation has started its vaccination drive for the 12-15 age group. According to the Union Health Ministry data, more than 3 lakh children have received their first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine.
