The Israeli Ministry of Health on Saturday reported the first four cases of the new COVID-19 strain that was detected in South Africa and other countries, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
This brought the total number of patients tested positive for COVID-19 variants in Israel to 151.
The four new cases were detected from 15 samples taken from coronavirus patients returning from South Africa and patients who were probably infected by them.
The detection of the variant was made with a unique 24-hour genetic test developed by the ministry, compared with the standard test that takes five days.
"The different variants cause faster infection than the common COVID-19 strain but probably do not cause more severe illnesses," the ministry noted