The Law, Constitution and Justice Committee convened today (Monday) to discuss the duty of isolation in hotels for returnees from South African countries. The committee’s discussion comes against the background of the fear of the continued spread of the South African mutation in Israel, which has already been discovered in at least four Israelis. In addition, the committee discussed the primaries for the party lists (primaries) under the Corona restrictions.
The committee, led by MK Yaakov, discusses a government decision requiring returnees from Botswana, Zambia or Soto to be isolated in a 10-day hotel on the state, performing two negative tests, or 14 days without tests. The decision is valid for 10 days, until Sunday. January 17th.
The discussion on the isolation of returnees from South Africa, credit to the Knesset channel
The chairman is MK Jacob Asher Clarified that under the Corona Greater Law if the declaration is for a number of less than five states and less than 20 days have elapsed from the first declaration, the approval of the committee is not necessary but only to bring it before it. In light of this, the committee was not required to vote on the declaration and it will remain in effect until Sunday 17 January.
Dr. Ofra HabkinCentral District Physician: “We started checking people who came back from South Africa and were also positive about Corona, the issue of mutation, them and their contacts. Initially we located 12 such people and discovered the mutation in two chains. Over the weekend 13 more people came in and we are waiting for their answers.”
Referring to the British variant, she said that it “took control of the disease in the UK and with us, at the beginning of December we could say that it was in 3% -2% of the vertebrae tested for the variant, and at the end of December we reached over 50% of patients tested for the variant.”
At the end of her remarks she clarified: “Therefore the concern and therefore we want as much as possible to stop the South African variant. We do not know for sure how much the vaccine affects him and it will be tested here too, because he has several mutations and Pfizer only tested one mutation and that is not enough. The goal is to isolate these people and prevent them from spreading and as much time as possible. ”
Prof. Nadav Davidovich Acting Chairman of the Association of Public Health Physicians at the Medical Association: “Variants have been around since the beginning and it is important to differentiate between them. We have been calling genetic flooring this part of public health neglect and I am glad the state has begun. The insulation is straight in hotels or run home insulation and enforce it. “
Last Saturday, four cases of infection with the South African mutation in Israel were diagnosed – three of them among members of one family. The Ministry of Health stated: “It should be emphasized that the different variants cause faster infection but apparently, do not cause more severe morbidity. The Ministry of Health will continue to update with additional findings as they become available. “