Israel confirms 7 cases of omicron, 27 others suspected

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Health Ministry says it has confirmed seven cases of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus, stoking fears of a pending surge in infections. Four of the confirmed cases are unvaccinated individuals who had recently returned from South Africa. The other three include two people who returned from South Africa and Britain and who had received two doses and a booster of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and one person inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine who returned from Malawi. The ministry says in the announcement on Friday morning that it has a “high suspicion” that another 27 identified cases of the coronavirus are also the new variant.