Hundreds of Israelis contract new COVID sub-variant JN.1

Some 200 Israelis have contracted the JN.1 coronavirus variant, a highly contagious sub-variant starting to dominate the latest wave of COVID-19 infections, Maariv reported on Monday.

The Health Ministry confirmed the report, adding that Israel has seen a small rise in morbidity rates...around 200 cases of the sub-variant were recorded in Israel."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a warning last month that the rapid spread of the sub-variant could force US hospitals to start preparing for large numbers of hospitalizations.

Can the COVID-19 vaccine handle the new JN.1 strain?

However, early data suggests that these vaccines were less effective at neutralizing the strain. The CDC anticipates that JN.1 will continue to increase.

At this time, the CDC does not know to what extent JN.1 may contribute to these increases or possible increases during the rest of December.

A group of experts assembled by the World Health Organization concluded this month that the changes in JN.1 are not significant enough to require a new revision of the current vaccines.

This is a developing story.