Israel is taking no risk in the face of this highly contagious, and still mysterious, variant of the coronavirus.
After closing the country's borders to foreign nationals on November 28, the Israeli government on Sunday banned its citizens from traveling to several redlisted European countries, including France, in order to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
The United States could be added to it.
These foreign travel restrictions, which already affected most African countries as well as Great Britain and Denmark, now also apply to Spain, Finland, France, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and, outside the EU, the United Arab Emirates.
To read also Covid-19: Joe Biden predicts to the unvaccinated "a winter of serious disease and death"
The Israeli Ministry of Health also recommended adding to this red list the United States, despite the hundreds of thousands of dual nationals, as well as Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Morocco, Portugal. , Switzerland and Turkey.
This proposal has yet to be validated by the government.
Over 440 cases of Omicron in Israel
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has defended these travel restrictions, which he says are necessary to avoid resorting to new lockdowns.
" Hurry up.
European countries have either established containments or are preparing to do so, ”he said on Sunday before a Council of Ministers.
Travelers from countries placed on the red list are prohibited from entering Israel, with some exceptions.
Israeli citizens and residents in a newly redlisted country will be required to observe a one-week quarantine upon their return.
More than 440 cases of the Omicron variant have already been detected in Israel, a month after its identification in South Africa.