Israeli doctor with Omicron urges vigilance not ‘extreme measures’

The cardiologist, who had his booster Covid jab in August, showed mild flu-like symptoms

A passenger wheels luggage by a Covid-19 fast track testing sign at Ben Gurion International airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Bloomberg

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A cardiologist who was the third detected case of the Omicron coronavirus variant in Israel urged people to be vigilant and not revert to "unnecessary extreme measures".

Elad Maor, 45, attended a conference late last month in London and tested positive for the Omicron variant of coronavirus upon his return. Israel's previous two cases were detected in people coming from Africa.

Mr Maor, who works at Sheba Medical Centre, Israel's largest hospital, took three PCR tests, all of which were negative, before detecting the virus in a fourth.

“I went back home. The next day I worked in the hospital, had a meeting and worked in the laboratory. Then in the evening of that next day my temperature went up. I felt sick. I thought it was the flu, because my PCR was negative two days before, but I wasn't sure,” he said.

The fourth PCR test he took was positive.

On the day he worked in the hospital, Mr Maor infected a fellow doctor, whom he drove to a meeting, with the same variant. His case is being considered a community spread.

“My family, wife and three kids are negative, many of my relatives are in home isolation because they were exposed to me," he said.

Travellers wearing protective face masks arrive at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, after Omicron cases were detected internationally. AP

"It's reassuring, in the sense that it's not, from my experience, from this specific case, it's not more transmissible than other variants."

UK's Health Security Agency (HSA) said they don't comment on individual cases, in response to a comment request by The National.

"Where individuals are identified as being a possible or probable case, NHS Test & Trace is contacting these individuals and their close contacts, to advise them to isolate for 10 days and to take a PCR test as soon as possible," NHS said.

For days, Mr Maor had flu-like symptoms, such as fever, muscle ache and a sore throat. However, he described his experience as a “mild disease” but not “something one can just ignore”.

The cardiologist said he was optimistic and praised measures taken by the government to curb the new variant’s spread, which he said he hopes are required “for a short period” only.

“I think they responded well, I think there needs to be a balance between public health and getting on with our lives. Not taking unnecessary extreme measures."

Medics at the 'check and go' station for mass testing for Covid-19 in east Jerusalem. EPA

But the public should be careful, he said, and he encouraged the use of the N-95 mask rather than the regular one for utmost protection.

Mr Maor had his third dose of Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine in August.

“I'm confident that the Pfizer vaccine helped me, I'm sure that if not for the vaccine, my disease would have been worse and I would have got my close relatives and friends infected ... all of them are triple vaccinated.

“I urge people to get full vaccination, including the booster.”