Israel’s Health Ministry announced on Sunday evening that four cases of the Los Angeles coronavirus variant have been identified in Israel.

An Israeli living in Los Angeles who visited Israel about a month ago first brought the virus into the country. By the time he returned to his home in California, he had infected five people in the holy land.

“Researchers identified a case of the Los Angeles variant in the Health Ministry’s Central Virology Laboratory,” the Health Ministry stated. “At least four other people have been confirmed to be infected with the variant.”

“The incident is under investigation. The Health Ministry will continue to provide updates with additional findings as they become available.”

The Los Angeles variant, known as L452R, was first identified in Denmark. The variant has been confirmed in over half of samples of local cases in 12 California counties, including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego, and may explain the surge of cases in California over the winter.

Dr. Charles Chiu, a virologist and professor of laboratory medicine at UC San Francisco, said that there are preliminary indications that L452R may be resistant to vaccines but more research is needed before conclusions can be drawn.

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Israel’s Health Ministry on Sunday also reported that five additional cases of the South African variant have been identified in Israel, raising the number of cases in the country to 27.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)