Cases of Omicron variant rise to 11 in Israel

JERUSALEM, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The number of Omicron COVID-19 variant cases in Israel rose from seven to 11 on Sunday, the Israeli Health Ministry said in a statement.

Two of the four new cases are passengers who have recently returned from France. Both of them have received three shots of the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19.

The third case is a patient who was also vaccinated with three Pfizer doses, and was infected with the variant after coming into contact with a passenger who returned from South Africa.

A person who returned from the United States, and tested positive for Omicron despite receiving three doses of the Moderna vaccine is the fourth case.

Another 24 cases of the variant are suspected in Israel, but the results of their genomic sequencing tests have yet to be obtained, according to the ministry.

It noted that 16 of the 24 people were unvaccinated, or recovered more than half a year ago.

There are also 14 other cases of low suspicion for the variant. Their test results were uncertain and sent for re-testing.