Israel reports 6 pregnant women testing positive for new COVID-19 variant

JERUSALEM, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Ministry of Health on Saturday said six pregnant women have tested positive for the mutant COVID-19 strain which was detected in Britain and other countries.

Following an increase in severe coronavirus cases among pregnant women in recent weeks, the ministry carried out sampling for genetic tests to detect the COVID-19 strain. Six out of the seven hospitalized pregnant women screened for the genetic tests were found to have contracted the new variant.