A rare inside look at the busiest lab in the country:
so far, two carriers for the new variant have been identified in Israel, and during the night the results of two more carriers are expected.
In the genetic flooring laboratory in Assaf, the doctor estimates, in light of previous findings in PCR tests, that these are positive for the variant with a high degree of certainty.
They were informed that there was another woman who had returned from Africa, who was defined as a suspect with a high degree of certainty, but on the flooring test the suspicion could not be verified, due to the low amount of material to be tested.
The genetic laboratory at Assaf Harofe, the central virus laboratory at Tel Hashomer and the laboratory at Ichilov, are the only three units in Israel that currently have the ability to make genetic flooring for the variant.
This is a test that requires special equipment, and the cost of one floor test is about NIS 400.
The Genetic Flooring Laboratory at Assaf Harofeh, Photo: Gideon Markovich
The cost of each test - NIS 400, Photo: Gideon Markovich
"The genomic flooring unit at Assaf Harofeh was established in February this year, as part of a national monitoring project at the Ministry of Health," says Dr. Adina Bar-Haim, director of the hospital's laboratories department.
The lab has already performed a huge number of 20,000 sequences of various corona viruses.
When other labs do tens a month - we did thousands a month. "In Assaf the doctor managed to shorten the waiting time for the flooring results, which until recently stood at about a week. Rabbi Bar Chaim.
The laboratory at Assaf Harofe was the first to identify the Omicron variant in Israel.
"The sample arrived on the 21st of the month, and on the 25th of the month at midnight I called Dr. Ruthi Yishai, director of the laboratories department, and Dr. Elrai Price, and I said that the variant is with us."
Dr. Ruthi Yishai says that the Ministry of Health is currently working on growing the Omicron variant, to use it for laboratory experiments and to test whether antibodies taken from recoverers or vaccinated can neutralize it.
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