A senior Health Ministry official warned Monday of the South American variant of the coronavirus, which has already spread across the United States.

“If it will enter Israel, it will cause a new wave [of infections] because it is more violent and infectious,” Director of the International Relations Division in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Asher Shalmon, said.

During a meeting of the Knesset (Israel Parliament) Constitution, Law and Justice Committee that deliberated the new Ben Gurion Airport outline, another official stated that the Delta variant consists today of 97 percent of Covid-19 cases in Israel.

She added that there is no use, therefore, to prevent it from entering the country but new prevention measures could deter the entry of other variants.