An Israeli coronavirus variant, has been discovered and health officials believe that hundreds of Israelis throughout the country are already infected with the new mutation, P681H, the Health Ministry announced on Wednesday.

Fortunately, the Pfizer vaccine has been found to be effective against the variant, the Health Ministry stated.

A total of 181 cases of the variant have been confirmed but health officials believe there are hundreds of numerous additional cases since sequencing is only carried out on a minority of test samples. The Central Virology Laboratory at Sheba Medical Center discovered the variant during routine genetic sequencing.

The ministry reassured Israelis that it believes that the variant is “of no clinical or epidemiological significance” and it is not more contagious or more virulent than the original coronavirus.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)