FPJ Explains: Israel detects new COVID-19 variant; all you need to know about symptoms, risks related to Omicron strain

A new Covid-19 variant has been detected in Israel, the country’s Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

The two infected passengers with it are reported to be experiencing mild symptoms including fever, headaches and muscle pain, and did not require additional medical attention.

BA. 1 + BA. 2

The new strain of Covid combines two sub-variants of the Omicron version of the Covid-19 virus- BA.1 and BA.2. Hybrid versions of Covid which combine two variants have also been found before as in case of "Deltacron"- that combined Delta and Omicron variants.

Symptoms

The two cases of the new strain have not required any special medical response, Israel's health ministry said, adding that the symptoms observed till now were mild- fever, headaches and muscle dystrophy.

While this variant has not yet been discovered anywhere else in the world so there is not much known about it, senior Hadassah Medical Center physician Professor Dror Mevorach responded to the news with a reminder that “every two to three weeks there is a new variant.”

More than four million of Israel's population of 9.2 million have received three coronavirus vaccine shots. A total of almost 1.4 million cases of Covid-19 infection and 8,244 deaths have been officially recorded in the country.

Earlier, Israel detected florona, a double infection of Covid-19 and Influenza. According to reports, Florona occurs after "double infection" or "co-infection" with both SARS-CoV-2 and the flu virus. The case was detected in an unvaccinated pregnant woman who had been admitted to a medical centre.

Published on: Thursday, March 17, 2022, 11:08 AM IST