Israel failing to adequately test returnees from African states for Omicron: report

29 November 2021, 8:47 pm

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Figures published by Channel 13 news indicate that despite swift action aimed at preventing the Omicron COVID-19 variant from entering Israel, the treatment of the new threat has been lacking.

Only 500 of the 1,800 Israelis who have returned from over 50 African countries since they were declared “red” have taken a genetic sequencing test designed to determine the virus’s strain, the network says.

Furthermore, out of around 14 tests that pointed to suspected Omicron cases, seven or eight of them have been found to be defective. They have been told to take repeat tests days later, at a time when it may be too late to identify the strain, the report says.