Israel recorded the first infection with a new Delta-related mutation of coronavirus - AY.4.2, which is called Delta Plus.
This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Health of the country.
A new coronavirus descendant related to Delta, called AY.4.2, is being closely monitored by scientists in the US, UK, and Israel.
AY.4.2 is still "very rare" in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The first infected person in Israel is a minor guy who has recently returned from abroad. According to the media, he returned from Moldova. Currently, the guy is isolated, after arriving he did not contact anyone.
A new coronavirus descendant related to Delta, called AY.4.2, is being closely monitored by scientists in the US, UK, and Israel.
While many different AY lineages of the Delta variant have been documented to date, AY.4.2 has caught the attention of virus-watchers around the world recently because it has two changes located on the viral spike protein, which could perhaps give it some advantages.
The UK Health Security Agency said on Friday that AY.4.2 is currently "expanding" in England and is "increasing in frequency" there, representing an estimated 6% of sequenced strains in the country. Israeli health officials reported their first documented case of AY.4.2 on Tuesday.
Former Food and Drug AdministrationCommissioner Scott Gottlieb said on Twitter over the weekend that "we need urgent research" to figure out how much of a threat the new Delta descendant really poses.
It's possible that AY.4.2 could turn out to be slightly more transmissible. It's not clear yet whether AY.4.2 is actually more transmissible than Delta, or if it has just had some good luck in the UK.
The first case of AY.4.2. has been first found "on occasion" in the United States.