Health Minister Yuli Edelstein informed government ministers that the highly contagious British coronavirus mutation had been found in Israel.
"Unfortunately, alongside the good news there is less good news: in the last two days we have been making a concerted effort to ensure that the mutation from the UK has not infiltrated Israel. Until a few minutes ago we were optimistic but now less optimistic. This is information from a few minutes ago," he said after it was revealed that four cases of the new strain had been discovered in Israel.