‘Huge international concern’
Outside of Europe, the “horrific” mutation has also been detected in Israel today, with the country’s health ministry confirming that one person had tested positive with the strain.
In a statement yesterday, the ministry said two other passengers were also quarantining.
It said that the patient had recently returned from Malawi, which borders Mozambique and Tanzania.
The fact the patient had travelled back from Malawi suggests the variant is making its way through Africa.
There are close to 80 cases of the variant in South Africa and experts warn the strain is behind an explosion of new cases, with some regions seeing a six-fold rise in infections in a matter of days.
The mutation has raised alarm in the country as it has ‘spread rapidly’ among the young population in one of the country’s most populous provinces, Gauteng.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the country is still gathering information on the variant.
