Israel said that it had recorded two cases of a new Covid variant. "This variant is still unknown around the world," Israel's ministry of health said in a statement.

The variant was detected in two passengers who had arrived at Israel's Ben Gurion airport.

The new strain of Covid combines two sub-variants of the Omicron version of the Covid-19 virus- BA.1 and BA.2.  There have been instances of hybrid versions of Covid which combine two variants, such as Deltacron, which have been found earlier as well.

Israeli authorities said they are not worried at this stage. The two cases of the new strain have not required any special medical response, Israel's health ministry said, adding that the symptoms observed till now were mild- fever, headaches and muscle dystrophy.

"The phenomenon of combined variants is well known," Israel's Covid response head Salman Zarka said. "At this stage, we are not worried about it leading to serious cases," he added.

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