Israel to ban people entering from 3 countries due to new UK strain

In addition, Israel’s coronavirus cabinet will recommend that people coming into the country from Australia and New Zealand stay in quarantine in a coronavirus hotel upon their return, Ynet reported.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on Sunday afternoon that once the cabinet approves its decision, IDF forces will be mobilized to operate coronavirus hotels within fewer than 24 hours.

“We are already working to stop flights to Israel from countries to which the British coronavirus mutation has arrived,” Head of Public Health Services Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis told 103FM on Sunday morning, citing South Africa, England and Australia as examples.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and scientists announced on Saturday that the new strain of coronavirus identified in the country is up to 70% more infectious.

Johnson also said London and southeast England, which are currently in the highest level of a three-tier system of rules, would now be placed in a new Tier 4 level, effectively reversing planned Christmas celebrations across the country.

 
“We currently see no indication that the vaccine we have won’t overcome the new mutation. To the best of our knowledge, it does overcome the new strain. Of course we are examining this and following this development closely,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday ahead of a coronavirus cabinet meeting, in which the cabinet is expected to decide whether to announce additional travel restrictions. 

While the strain is definitely more infectious, scientists say it is not known to be more lethal or resistant to vaccines.

“This mutation causes a faster infection, there is no evidence that it is resistant to the vaccine that was developed,” Health Ministry director-general Chezy Levy told Kan Bet Radio on Sunday morning.

“We are following with concern,” Coronavirus Commissioner Nachman Ash told Walla News on Sunday. “We are looking into the way the cell binds with the virus. At the moment, we think the vaccine will work on the new mutation as well.”

Prof. Jacob Moran-Gilad, a medical specialist in clinical microbiology and public health from Ben-Gurion University’s School of Public Health, and a member of Israel’s Pandemic Management Team, told The Jerusalem Post in an interview on Sunday that while coronavirus mutations are relatively commonplace, the new mutation in the UK may be “just the tip of the iceberg.”

“While it has not yet been definitively proven that the strain is more infectious,” Moran-Gilan said, “the numbers Johnson presented on Saturday were a projection, based on data that shows a recent rise in infections in areas where this specific mutation was found.”

“Mutations in viruses are nothing new, neither are they new to COVID-19,” he said. He said that there are currently more than 1,000 known mutations to the novel coronavirus that was first found in Wuhan, most of which are inconsequential.

Both the new UK variant, and a Danish variant which recently resulted in a mass-culling of minks in the country, made changes to the virus’s spike protein, though Moran-Gilad said the two are otherwise unrelated. 

“Mutations that are related to the spike protein can affect the dynamics of the disease, seeing as it is a deciding factor in the infection process. For example, the mutation might affect the ways in which the virus connects with cells in the respiratory system,” Moran-Gilan said, emphasizing that this looks like the most probable negative consequence that could arise from the new UK strain.

“That’s what doctors in England are currently most worried about. It has not yet been proven, but there is circumstantial evidence that suggests that might be the case,” he said.

A consequence of the new strain that would be less likely, according to Moran-Gilad, is a decrease in the amount of cases tests will be able to reveal. 

“While the spike protein is used in diagnostic screening, testing and genome sequencing for the novel coronavirus has advanced greatly,” he told the Post. “Since every lab test looks for several target areas within the virus capable of detection, a mutation in a single protein is unlikely to lead to underdiagnosis.”

While the new mutation could potentially affect the effectiveness of a vaccine, COVID-19’s rate of mutation (around one mutation every two weeks, according to Moran-Gilad) indicates that a process like this would likely take years.

“There are new mutations to this virus all the time, most of them are inconsequential,” Moran-Gilad said. “There’s no reason to think that a specific mutation means we all wake up in the morning and suddenly see the vaccine doesn’t work. It’s not an all-or-nothing effect, and there is currently no indication that this specific mutation harms the vaccine’s effectiveness in any way.”

“Our immune system creates a wide range of antibodies to this virus, it’s not just one type of antibody. Therefore, even if there is a mutation which would potentially affect the vaccine’s effectiveness, it wouldn’t have a dramatic effect,” he added.

“The British are currently the world leaders in their rate of genetic sequencing for COVID-19 patient samples. That’s why they’re the ones that find these things. It’s very likely that what we are seeing in Britain is just the tip of the iceberg. There are most likely a lot of mutations we don’t yet know about because most of the world doesn’t consistently survey and track the mutation,” he said.

“We place the focus on Britain, because that’s where the reports are coming from, but this is probably a universal issue,” Moran-Gilad concluded.

Though the Health Ministry confirmed on Saturday evening that all countries will be designated as red destinations to combat the recent spike in coronavirus morbidity rates, visitors from previously green countries have been given until December 26 to return to Israel without any isolation required.

Starting December 26, Israelis returning from any country will need to enter quarantine for 14 days. Alternatively, they may choose to be tested upon return to Israel, and again, nine days later. If both tests are negative, quarantine will be shortened to 10 days.

The Netherlands announced that it will ban flights carrying passengers from the United Kingdom starting on Sunday as a result of the newly discovered variant.

The statement added that in early December, sampling of a case in the Netherlands had revealed the same virus strain as that found in the UK.