Israel Sets Up Covid Test Station Amid Global Outbreaks
Nurses from the Jerusalem College of Technology gather in an Israeli hospital for training and helping patients grapple with the coronavirus (COVID-19), April 2020. Photo: Courtesy.
i24 News – The new strain driving up morbidity worldwide has been dubbed ‘Kraken’
Following the uptick in coronavirus morbidity worldwide in recent weeks, Israel set up a new PCR Covid-testing facility for arrivals from abroad at the Ben-Gurion airport, after scrapping the measure last year.
The testing will not be mandatory; rather, Israel will allow free testing for all those returning from abroad. Workers at the station told i24NEWS that they only tested some 15 people since opening on Wednesday.
The latest highly contagious Covid variant called XBB.1.5 was described by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “the most transmissible” variant to date. Dubbed “Kraken” by Canadian biology professor Dr. Ryan Gregory, the new strain is laying down roots in the through North America and elsewhere as it is expected to become the dominant variant.
According to Dr. Nadav Sorek, director of the microbiology laboratory at Assuta Medical Center in Ashdod, “The question is not if, but when. This new variant circulating in the United States is going to come to Israel. What’s happening in China and starting to happen now in the United States is the spread of a new sub-variant of Omicron. It’s a variant that spreads very quickly, but causes less severe disease than Alpha and Delta variants,” he said.
“So we have a variant which is not dangerous, but which is more contagious. And it also constantly creates new variants,” warned Sorek.