Four cases of the South African mutation were found in Israel, the Health Ministry reported Saturday.
The four cases are from two separate chains of infection – one from an individual who returned from South Africa and another who was infected by one of the person’s family members.
The news came after the ministry said Friday that the Infectious Diseases Research Lab at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer was evaluating the samples of 15 people who returned to Israel from South Africa in recent days and who tested positive for coronavirus. The lab is also testing five people who were infected by them and 200 other contacts who also have coronavirus, the ministry report said.
Moreover, some 117 more cases of people infected with the British mutation of the novel coronavirus were discovered in Israel, the Health Ministry reported Friday, bringing the total cases of the British mutation to 147.
Of the sick, only six people returned to Israel from abroad. The rest were infected locally, which the ministry said may explain the significant and rapid increase in morbidity in recent weeks.
To speed up the evaluation process, the Sheba laboratory is using a new, rapid evaluation process that takes only 24 hours, the ministry said.
Late Thursday night, the Ministerial Committee for the Coronavirus approved the decision that all Israelis who were in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia or Lesotho within 14 days of their arrival in Israel will now be required to quarantine in a state-run coronavirus hotel for between 10 to 14 days. The decision is valid through January 17 and then will be reevaluated.
These new coronavirus variants have been found to spread the virus much more rapidly than the original strain. Last week, Prof. Nachman Ash said that Israel’s first 30 cases infected at least 189 people – a ratio of 1:6. At the time, the reproduction rate of the normal or original novel coronavirus in Israel is currently around 1:1.27.
However, it does not appear that these mutations render the virus more pathogenic and, meaning they do not cause a more severe disease.
On Wednesday, Prof. Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of Public Health Services, told a Knesset committee that the South African variant is more disturbing than the UK mutation because it can cause severe morbidity among the young.
“Its effect on the vaccine is not yet clear, and there is a worrying preliminary study,” Alroy-Preis said, noting that it is suspected that the effectiveness of vaccines against the South African mutation is not as good.
However, on Friday morning, Pfizer reported that its vaccine appeared to work against both of these new variants, according to a laboratory study it conducted.
The study, which is not yet peer-reviewed and was conducted by the US company in collaboration with scientists from the University of Texas Medical Branch, indicated the vaccine was effective in neutralizing the virus with the so-called N501Y mutation of the spike protein.
When asked earlier this week by The Jerusalem Post if there is a danger that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will no longer be effective, Prof. Jonathan Gershoni from the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research at Tel Aviv University said, “I honestly don’t believe so. Therefore we must continue to aggressively vaccinate.”