Ongoing report on the new corona strain that was discovered in South Africa and arrived in Israel.
- Watch the press conference held this afternoon by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, Dr. Sharon Elrai Price and other senior members of the health system:
15:45 – Minister of Culture: “Opposes restrictions on Hanukkah events”
Culture Minister Hili Trooper said at a meeting with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that his ministry opposes restrictions on Hanukkah events that begin on Sunday. The ministry’s position is that in the face of the ambiguity, there is no need to restrict performances yet – and Trooper clarified this at a meeting with Bennett. However, the Ministry of Culture estimates that tomorrow evening in the cabinet the issue will be raised and the Ministry of Health is expected to ask to consider restrictions. (Attila Shumpelby)
15:20 – The tests for landing at Ben Gurion Airport will be sent to a laboratory that identifies the new strain, delays in results are expected
Pemi Premium, which conducts corona tests for landers in Israel, announced that “according to the Ministry of Health’s guidelines, starting this morning, all samples made to landers at Ben Gurion Airport will be sent to one laboratory that can identify the new variant from South Africa, instead of three laboratories we work with regularly.” According to the company, “delays in the test results are expected due to the formation of a load on the laboratory.” (Adir Janko)
15:06 – Bennett: “I do not currently recommend flying abroad. Clasp? Not on the agenda at the moment “
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said at a press conference in the Tel Aviv campus that he advises Israelis not to fly abroad, due to the new variant from South Africa that has been identified in Israel. (Adir Janko)
14:56 – Horowitz: “There is currently no information on the resistance of the strain against the vaccine, but it is probably more contagious”
Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said at a press conference in the Tel Aviv Kirya that “we observed and took into account the spread of another new variant, and we took care of the test system at Ben Gurion Airport, the masks, and most importantly – we continue vaccinations.” The new. “There is not enough information at the moment about the degree of its resistance to the vaccine, but it is probably more contagious.” (Adir Janko)
14:50 – Bennett: The variant from South Africa is worrying. There is certainly one case in the country, 3 suspects and the assumption that there are more
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said at a press conference held in the Kirya in Tel Aviv that “within this continuum of the corona that we are all in, today we are at a worrying point.” He says, “We are in a new situation. The variant that comes from South Africa is very worrying, so much so that dozens of varieties that have been tested here in the past year – it has raised a flag in the Ministry of Health in Israel and around the world. Now, and our assumption is that there is more. ” Bennett added: “The good news is that the State of Israel is waking up early, the first in the world. Our system is ready, all our systems are ready.” (Adir Janko)
14:30 – Other dramatic steps in the fight against the new corona strain: After Israel was the first in the world yesterday to decide on a ban on flights from South Africa and other countries in the south of the continent, and after it was also decided to return the isolation hotels, it was decided today (Friday) to significantly expand the list. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is currently holding a special press conference with Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz and senior officials of the ministry
The press conference of Bennett and Horowitz will also be attended by the Director General of the Ministry of Health, Prof. Nachman Ash, the Head of Public Health Services at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Sharon Elrai-Price, and the Corona Commissioner, Prof. Salman Zarka.
Instead of seven countries included in the red list last night, it was decided that with the exception of the North African countries all the countries on the continent – including Mauritius, the Seychelles and Madagascar – would be defined as red countries. The entry of strangers from them will be banned. The Home Front Command will locate all those arriving from African countries in the past week and will instruct them to remain in isolation immediately, while at the same time conducting home sampling.
In addition, it was decided that every person who stayed in African countries (even if he came to Israel from another destination) would be called to immediately go for a PCR test, after which he would go into isolation until a result was obtained. In addition, 10 million PCR kits will be purchased to closely identify the new variant. As part of the pilot, HEPA air filters will be installed in about two weeks in hundreds of classrooms and in 100 kindergartens across the country. The sewer sampling procedure throughout the country will be accelerated, in order to detect latent morbidity in the new variant.
During a discussion with the prime minister, at the beginning of which Bennett said that “we are on the verge of a state of emergency,” Ynet learned that the head of health services, Sharon Elrai Price, had hermetically closed Ben Gurion Airport for a week, in order to prevent the entry of the South African variant. There are already four of the same breed. Health Minister Horowitz is less enthusiastic about the proposal, but quite a few ministers who participated in the debate actually supported it. The debate also examined other implications, including Hanukkah performances. Education.
The Prime Minister himself leads an aggressive line with quick and difficult measures in the short term, in order to prevent the possibility of entering a closure later on. Bennett’s goal is to leave Israel open from within – and close it outwardly, until the situation is understood. This scenario was practiced a few weeks ago in the “Omega” exercise. “When we did the exercise then we looked a little detached,” Bennett said. Needless to say, this is one of the most significant moves that has prepared us exactly for the situation we are now, perhaps, in. Already last night we returned to insights from the exercise and began to implement quickly. “
Britain, the first country after Israel to put South Africa and neighboring countries on the red list, said this morning that the new strain has been defined by scientists as the most significant found so far, so it must verify whether the vaccines are effective against it at all. In response to South Africa’s criticism of the closure of the sky, Transport Minister Grant Schaps said that “the lesson we learned from the corona is that early action is a necessary thing.” Following Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and other European countries also announced that they were preventing foreigners from landing from those countries. Japan has also banned flights from these countries.
“This is the most worrying variant we have seen so far,” said a senior British health official, who decided that flights from South Africa and five other countries in the south of the continent would be banned from noon. This is the variant with the largest number of mutations discovered to date, and a British expert described it as “horrible and terrible”. Tulio de Olivera, a South African virologist, said the new strain has more than 50 mutations in total and 32 mutations in the spike protein. In the part of the virus that makes the first contact with the body cell it has 10 mutations, compared to two for the delta.
13:50 – Pfizer: “Researching the new variant, within two weeks there will be findings”
Amid worldwide concern about the new strain of corona virus that was discovered yesterday in the South African continent, and which has since spread to other places in the world, Pfizer has announced that it has begun researching the new variant. “Within two weeks, we will receive the first results of the study, which will make it possible to determine whether the variant is able to overcome the vaccine,” the company said. “This strain is clearly different from the variants we are familiar with because it has additional mutations in the spike protein.” (AFP)
.