Israel has imposed the health pass on children over three years of age as part of new restrictions aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus, authorities said Wednesday evening.
Faced with an increase in contamination in recent weeks linked to the spread of the Delta variant, the Hebrew state put in place on July 29 the health pass, called
"green badge"
, which allows access to certain places to fully vaccinated people. , cured of Covid-19 or with a negative test.
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And on Wednesday, the Israeli government extended these measures to children aged 3 to 12. Israel, which is trying to avoid a new lockdown, also set up rapid antigen testing stations across the country on Sunday, run by the Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service, and made quarantine mandatory for those returning. from most countries of the world, vaccinated or not. Screening at these stations costs 52 shekels (about 17 euros) and allows you to obtain the health pass from the Ministry of Health, valid for 24 hours.
"It will be supported by the state for children from 3 to 12 years old from August 18, the date of entry into force of the measure,"
said the Prime Minister's office in a statement. A country of nine million inhabitants, Israel was one of the first to launch a vast vaccination campaign in December, thanks to an agreement with the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. The deal gave the Jewish state quick access to millions of paid doses in exchange for biomedical data on the vaccine's effects.
The campaign has made it possible to bring down the number of cases, but in recent weeks contamination has increased again with the spread of the more contagious variant Delta, in unvaccinated adults but also in people vaccinated more than six months ago. . In the past 24 hours, Israel has recorded 5,802 new cases. According to the latest official report, the country has recorded a total of 918,237 infections and 6,587 deaths since the start of the pandemic.