ISRAEL: The Israeli government on Thursday conducted a national drill to assess the country's readiness in the event of a breakout of a new, more dangerous strain of the COVID-19 virus. According to an official release, the exercise, which is being run as a war game from a situation centre in Jerusalem, is intended to test the national handling of a new "Omega" strain.

The drill will put the country's ability to coordinate and manage things like local/regional lockdowns, monitoring and oversight of the new variant, including vaccine testing, providing economic support for the population, and ensuring that the education system can successfully adjust to the new situation to the test. "The State of Israel is in a fantastic position." According to the announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett remarked, "We beat the fourth wave and are on our approach to departing the Delta variant."

The National Management Center in Jerusalem is hosting the exercise, which is designed to manage national crises and includes general directors of government ministries, representatives of professional health and emergency agencies, the national coronavirus project manager, the director of the Public Health Service, chairpersons of Parliament's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, the National Security Council, and members of the Israeli army. "Israel must be prepared," Bennett stated during a National Management Centre situation assessment conference.

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