JERUSALEM, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Israel on Saturday reported 20 new cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, raising the total Omicron cases in the country to 55, according to the Israeli Health Ministry.
The ministry said that 36 of the infected are returning passengers from South Africa, Britain, France, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Belarus, Hungary, Italy and Namibia.
It added that 11 others were infected in Israel through close contact with passengers returning from South Africa and Britain, while the remaining eight were infected in Israel without being abroad nor in close contact with a returning traveler.
In addition, 13 of the 55 infected are unvaccinated, or recovered more than half a year ago.
The ministry also reported another 51 cases with a high suspicion of infection with Omicron, but the results of their genomic sequencing tests have yet to be obtained. Enditem
