The newly discovered Omicorn coronavirus varial will "without a doubt have a significant influence on the education system," said Professor Nadav Davidovich, an infectious disease expert and head of the School of Public Health at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
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The variant was first reported to the World Health Organization on Nov. 24 from South Africa, where infections have risen steeply.
"We need to reassess the green class solution. If the variant spreads, this model won't likely be able to continue, be we should wait and examine the data."
He said Israel needed "to promote the issue of ventilating classrooms, initiate PCR testing of students, and bolster vaccination among children. Even if the vaccine is found to be less effective against this new variant, it will likely maintain its efficacy even if this is to a lesser extent, and the vaccines together with additional tools will contribute significantly [to the effort]."
One of the biggest questions on Israeli officials' minds is how the upcoming Hanukkah vacation will impact morbidity in the education system.
According to Davidovich, "Students who will be overseas during Hanukkah will need to quarantine similarly to adults to ensure they aren't carrying the virus. If discipline is lax, and people don't maintain masking and physical distancing, we may see more patients when they return from vacation. There is certainly a possibility of infection at Hanukkah performances, but there is also the possibility of infection at schools. They would be wise to place vaccine stations near the performance halls, which could increase vaccination. We need to slow the spread of this variant's spread with all the tools possible."
Davidovich noted that some steps that had been decided upon to prevent infection had yet to be implemented.
"We need mainly to enforce the guidelines, something that has not been done well. For example, ensuring masks [are worn] in closed spaces, including in the classrooms. We need to appoint coronavirus trustees where there aren't any, including on the school level but also at the local authority level. Now it's not working in a good enough manner."
There are currently 25,471 Israeli students in quarantine, and 4,395 students currently have the coronavirus.
In a shift from the previous government's policy, New Hope MK Yifat Shasha-Biton has refrained from publishing data on outbreaks in the classroom since entering the role of education minister, arguing this should fall under the authority of the Health Ministry.
"The Education Ministry has a command center that knows how to monitor each class, school, and preschool. This is a snapshot of nearly 3 million students and teachers in the country, and this data is published daily," Amit Edri, who served as Education Ministry director-general under then-Minister Yoav Galant, said.
Edri said, "Under Galant's direction, the Education Ministry was responsible for the education system and worked transparently with the public. The publication of data is part of the responsibility and the system's commitment to students, teachers, and parents.
"To my understanding, the Education Ministry's view is that there will not be learning in small groups. The IT infrastructure that was established and the computers that were provided allow for continuous physical learning in educational institutions. The question is: What will the government decide, and what direction will the Health Ministry lead us?"
Meanwhile, a top South African infectious disease expert said on Monday that existing COVID-19 vaccines were probably effective at preventing severe disease and hospitalization from the newly identified Omicron variant.
Professor Salim Abdool Karim added at a news conference that it was too early to say whether Omicron led to more severe clinical symptoms than previous variants, although it does appear more transmissible and more likely to infect people who have immunity from vaccination or prior infection.
However, scientists have yet to determine how deadly it is when compared to earlier strains that cause COVID-19, or what effect existing vaccines might have on the illness it causes.
On Sunday, a South African doctor who was one of the first to suspect a new strain, said Omicron appeared so far to be producing mild symptoms.
South Africa's government is doing everything possible to prepare its health facilities to cope with the variant, Health Minister Joe Phaahla told the news conference.
The Omicron coronavirus variant is likely to spread internationally, posing a "very high" global risk of infection surges that could have "severe consequences" for some areas, the World Health Organization said on Monday.
The UN agency urged its 194 member states to accelerate vaccination of high-priority groups and, in anticipation of increased case numbers, to "ensure mitigation plans are in place" to maintain essential health services.
"Omicron has an unprecedented number of spike mutations, some of which are concerning for their potential impact on the trajectory of the pandemic," the WHO said.
"The overall global risk related to the new variant ... is assessed as very high."
To date, no deaths linked to Omicron had been reported, though further research was needed to assess Omicron's potential to escape protection against immunity induced by vaccines and previous infections, it said.
"Increasing cases, regardless of a change in severity, may pose overwhelming demands on health care systems and may lead to increased morbidity and mortality. The impact on vulnerable populations would be substantial, particularly in countries with low vaccination coverage," it said.
The WHO, in its latest guidance, reiterated that countries should use a "risk-based approach to adjust international travel measures in a timely manner." Further advice would be forthcoming, it said.
"The presence of multiple mutations of the spike protein in the receptor-binding domain suggests that Omicron may have a high likelihood of immune escape from antibody-mediated protection. However, immune escape potential from cell-mediated immunity is more difficult to predict," it said.
"Overall, there are considerable uncertainties in the magnitude of immune escape potential of Omicron."
More data was expected in the coming weeks.
"COVID-19 cases and infections are expected in vaccinated persons, albeit in a small and predictable proportion," it added.
The discovery of the variant in Southern Africa has caused a strong global reaction, with countries limiting travel from the region and imposing other restrictions for fear that it could spread quickly even in vaccinated populations.
It has since spread around the world, with new cases found in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Australia even as more countries imposed travel restrictions to try to seal themselves off. Japan said on Monday it would close its borders to foreigners, joining Israel in taking the toughest measures.
The head of the World Health Organization in Africa on Sunday urged countries to follow the science rather than imposing flight bans in a bid to contain the new Omicron coronavirus variant.
"With the Omicron variant now detected in several regions of the world, putting in place travel bans that target Africa attacks global solidarity," said WHO Regional Director-General Matshidiso Moeti.
Many countries have imposed temporary travel bans on South Africa and neighboring countries.
Israel went even further, restricting travel from the entire continent outside of North Africa, before deciding to impose a complete ban on foreigners entering the country for 14 days.
The COVID-19 variant was first detected in South Africa last week and has since been detected in Europe, Britain, Israel, Hong Kong, Australia, and Botswana.
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday called on countries to "urgently" reverse travel bans linked to the discovery of the mutated version of the virus.
"We call upon all those countries that have imposed travel bans on our country and our Southern African sister countries to urgently reverse their decisions and lift the bans they have imposed before any further damage is done to our economies," he said in his first address to the nation following the identification of the variant.
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