Israel recorded the first case of a Covid-19 variant with multiple mutations that were first detected in South Africa, the Ministry of Health stated on Friday.
“The variant found in southern African states has been known in Israel,” the ministry stated, noting that it was recorded “in a person returning from Malawi”.
Two more cases were traced to “people returning from abroad”, the statement read, stating that they had been placed in isolation.
The health ministry stated that the three people were all immunized without naming the number of doses or the type of vaccine.
News of its spread to Israel comes a day after scientists in South Africa said they had detected the new B.1.1.529 strain with at least 10 mutations, compared to two for Delta.
The variant was of “serious concern” and was blamed for an increase in infection numbers, authorities in South Africa said on Thursday.
It was also found in Botswana and Hong Kong among travelers from South Africa, they said.
Last year, Israel was one of the first countries to introduce coronavirus vaccines thanks to an agreement with Pfizer that gave it access to millions of doses in exchange for vaccine efficacy data.
More than 5.7 million of the nation’s nine million people have now been fully vaccinated.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett convened a meeting with public health officials and his government on Friday morning to address the Covid situation in the country.
The World Health Organization will hold a meeting later on Friday to decide whether the new strain should be designated as a variant of “interest” or “concern”.
Israel already late Thursday placed the Southern African nations Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe on its “red list” due to the discovery of the variant.
The Jewish state experienced an increase in COVID-19 infections during the summer, fueled by the Delta variant, and launched one of the earliest reinforcement shots campaigns.
Israel on Tuesday launched Covid-19 vaccinations for children between the ages of five and 11, one of only a handful of countries to vaccinate minors as young as they are trying to stem another pandemic wave.
Earlier this month, Israel held a “war game exercise” in the event of an outbreak of a new deadly variant of Covid-19.
The simulation covered various aspects of a crisis, including mass vaccination, setting curfew rules and imposing a flight ban.