Dozens and dozens of cars ... In several cities of Israel, while the Omicron variant is responsible for a very strong increase in contamination, traffic jams are forming around the test centers.
According to The Times of Israel, under pressure, "the testing system is starting to deteriorate."
The government could take measures to reduce this pressure, the newspaper reports.
Thus, reports The Times of Israel, the Prime Minister announced that the government will change the rules to be tested, "in the coming days".
According to Channel 12, one of the options being considered is not to force contact cases to be tested, unless they do not present suspicion.
The newspaper also explains that it could be decided to only allow people over a certain age who are likely to suffer from the virus.
Traffic jams around a test center in Jerusalem.
Reuters / Ammar Awad
Same thing in Netanya.
AFP / Jack Guez AFP or licensors
This is unfolding as Israel ramps up its campaign for the fourth dose for people aged 60 and over, while the world is only on the third dose - Israel having already implemented the latter very early. A situation that has become necessary, in the eyes of the executive, by the spread of the Omicron variant: the number of contaminations has risen sharply since December 27 and up to more than 6,000 cases in one day were noted on January 1. "We can expect to have 50,000 new cases per day soon," Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned on Sunday.
The Israeli government announced the reopening next week of its borders to vaccinated foreign tourists, closed a month ago after the discovery of a first case of the Omicron variant in a traveler returning from southern Africa.
As of January 9, vaccinated foreigners from "orange countries" will be able to return to Israel by performing a PCR or antigen test before boarding the plane and a PCR test upon arrival on Israeli soil where they will have to go. placed in solitary confinement for 24 hours, pending their outcome, the government said in a statement.
