Israel on Tuesday reported a COVID outbreak in the northern part of the country after 80 Chinese workers at a storage site tested positive for the virus.
It appears some of the workers at the site located in Emek HaMaayanot Regional Council have been inoculated against coronavirus with the Chinese vaccine Sinovac.
A Health Ministry's investigation revealed that initially eight cases of the virus had been detected among the workers, which prompted the officials to test another 260 employees and other people who came into contact with them.
The ministry continues the investigation and will perform genomic sequencing - which allows scientists to identify SARS-CoV-2 and monitor how it changes over time - for all infected personnel. The ministry also considers establishing an isolation hotel for the Chinese workers. Further tests will be conducted on some 100 additional workers.
A source said that the employees live together, leading to an assessment that the contagion won't spread beyond the location.
About 500 workers are employed by the site, who all live in various communities across the valley.
Kibbutz Ashdot Ya'akov Ihud, in which some 100 workers live, said in response: "The Chinese were instructed to stay solely in the compound and not to wander around the community. We ask the parents and the informal education leaders to instruct the children and youths not to pass through the Chinese residents' complex."