JERUSALEM, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- About 700 cases of BA.2, a sub-variant of COVID-19 Omicron strain, have been detected in Israel, the country's national coronavirus czar Salman Zarka told a press briefing on Monday.
It is a doubling from the 350 cases released on Jan. 31 by Zarka, and Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of public health services at the Health Ministry.
"We are monitoring the variant in other countries, and we fear that its spread in Israel will cause us thousands of morbidity cases for many weeks," Zarka said.
However, he added the hospitals in Israel are not at risk of collapsing despite the emerging sub-variant.
Israel reported 52,600 new coronavirus cases on Monday, while the number of active cases in Israel stands at 333,296, with 2,745 patients hospitalized. ■
