Israel holds ‘war game’ in case of lethal new coronavirus strain
- The exercises, which simulated the outbreak of an ‘Omega’ Covid-19 variant that bypasses vaccines and sickens children, prompting mass hospitalisations
- The ‘world first’ drill covered different aspects of a crisis, including mass inoculation, ordering curfews and imposing a flight ban
In what it called a world first, Israel on Thursday held a “war game drill” in case of an outbreak of a new lethal variant of Covid-19.
Civilian and military officials took part in the exercises, named “Omega” after the supposed strain, held at Jerusalem’s nuclear blast-proof National Management Centre.
The simulation covered different aspects of a crisis, including mass inoculation, ordering curfews and imposing a flight ban, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office said.
“The State of Israel is in an excellent situation. We beat the fourth wave and we are on our way toward exiting the Delta variant. However, at the same time, we are always looking ahead … We are not ‘closing up shop’,” it said.
Bennett, on a visit to the centre, said the biggest threat was “what we do not know yet, more dangerous and more contagious variants of Delta that are resistant to the vaccine that can crop up all of a sudden”.