Top health expert says Israel to likely face significant Omicron wave soon

18 December 2021, 8:56 pm

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Eran Segal, a computational biologist from the Weizmann Institute of Science and a top adviser to the government’s coronavirus cabinet, tells Channel 12 news that while there are many unknowns about Omicron, Israel may see a wave of infections soon.

“If what’s happening in Europe happens here, we’ll see a doubling of cases every 2-3 days, and a significant outbreak,” he tells the network.

Segal says that South African data suggests Omicron is less aggressive than the Delta variant of the coronavirus, but UK data seems to contradict this.

“The vaccination campaign is virtually treading water,” he says, as more than a million Israelis have yet to get their boosters dose, according to Health Ministry data.