Health minister: We have Omicron under control

Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz says Israel has the Omicron variant of the coronavirus “under control.”

“We assumed a new variant would show up. Thanks to our defensive and enforcement measures, we located this variant quickly. We were among the first to find and isolate it. The matter is under control, there’s no need for fear or panic.”

He also defends the implementation of Shin Bet tracking of carriers of the variant, while expressing misgivings.

“I’ve got a big problem with the use of tracking. I prefer that the Shin Bet deal with security matters and not civilian ones,” he says, adding that “the implementation of Shin Bet tracking is very limited, temporary and has a lot of oversight.”