Eighteen new cases of a mutated strain of the coronavirus have been reported across Israel, the Health Ministry reported Friday.
According to data released by the Health Ministry, a total of 23 cases of the fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus – dubbed the “English Variant” – have been detected in Israel since the mutation was identified. Of those 18 were discovered over the last 24 hours. Among the five previously reported cases, four were travelers returning from abroad.
Out of the 18 new cases, two were in patients who had recently traveled abroad and are currently in coronavirus hotels for their mandatory isolation period.
The remaining 16 cases were discovered in towns across Israel, including Beit Shemesh, Beitar Illit, Modi’in Illit, Givat Ze’ev, Bnei Brak, Jerusalem, Ramat Gan, Tiberias, Lakiya, and Qassif.
The 18 newly identified cases were found out of 94 samples taken.
Samples from an additional 400 individuals are currently being tested for the mutated COVID strain.