Top health official denies Israel has seen Omicron reinfection with new BA.2 strain

A top health official contradicts reports that several people in Israel have been reinfected with an Omicron subvariant after recovering from the original strain.

Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of public health services at the Health Ministry, tells the Knesset officials have so far diagnosed 350 cases of BA.2, which is suspected to be even more infectious than the original BA.1 Omicron strain.

However, she says that “there has been no case of reinfection in those recovering from Omicron.” She notes that for someone just coming out of Omicron to get reinfected, the new version of the virus “would need to be different enough that the antibodies their bodies have made and that helped them recover would not protect them. Right now we do not see that happening.”

Yesterday both Channel 12 and Kan news reported that Israel has detected a few cases in which people who recovered from BA.1 were then reinfected with BA.2.