Covid Israel, immunologist: “Fifth wave risk for Delta variant mutation”

Israel may face a fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic due to the AY.4.2 mutation of the Delta variant, of which a first case was reported in the country on an 11-year-old boy who returned from Moldova. The alarm comes from immunologist Cyrille Cohen, who heads the University of Bar-Ilan’s Laboratory of Immunology and Immunotherapy, who explained in an interview with Ynet’s website that the variant developed mainly in the UK. “It is still unclear how contagious this variant is, but the fact that it has already reached 10% of all cases in England should sound alarm bells,” he said. There may also be other cases in Israel, Cohen said, convinced that it is not enough to test people who enter the Jewish state upon their arrival. “Maybe once you arrive at Ben Gurion airport you test negative, but you may have been infected on the plane, maybe the day before or the day after. That’s why I think we should recommend another test after four days of returning to Israel,” he said. Cohen said.