Professor Hagai Levin: "At this stage there is no longer any rationale for closing the sky" Israel today

Tonight, a number of countries entered the list of red countries, including the United States, Germany, Italy and other countries. In parallel with the expansion of the list of red countries, the rate of infection within Israel is rising and senior professors in Israel claim there is no point in closing the sky.

Professor Hagai Levin, chairman of the Association of Public Health Physicians, was interviewed by Israel Today this morning and said: Does not recommend closing boundaries.

"When there is widespread expansion within the country, which is the stage we are already at, there is no rationale for preventing the transition between countries, even if it is the most stringent approach."

About 70 countries are already defined as red,

"Testing and isolation is a tool that can be used completely, but a sweeping ban on moving between countries is a draconian tool that should be used with caution and now in my opinion is no longer true. At the stage we are the rationale is over Professor Levin.

Professor Grotto submitted his opinion on a petition filed against the closure of the sky,

At the beginning of the week, Professor Itamar Grotto submitted his opinion regarding the closure of the sky in a petition submitted to the High Court. Professor Grotto emphasized that he gave his opinion free of charge and wrote, among other things: This variant, I do not see any justification in establishing a total ban on the departure from Israel of protected persons on the basis of these negligible rates. The Ministry of Health also did not try to establish things epidemiologically. This is especially true when on December 18 it was reported that 627 verified Corona vertebrae / suspects were identified in Corona in Israel, of which 182 were of community infection or suspected infection (it should be noted that unlike returnees from abroad, Israelis who did not go abroad are not regularly examined) . It is therefore likely that there are many more community cases. Hence the omicron is already common in Israel,Therefore, it is unlikely to use such criteria, which in practical terms means closing the sky to departing flights within days, even for the protected. "

Yesterday at the cabinet meeting, Professor Eran Segal claimed that the restrictions at Ben Gurion Airport would not have a great impact when the number of foreign nationals was about 10% or less than the nationalized population in Israel.

Tourism Minister Yoel Rezbozov responded: "If we reach these numbers, and I hope we do not, we must open the skies, to Israelis and vaccinated tourists. Every day of restrictions is a fatal blow to the tourism industry."

Prime Minister Bennett commented: "You are right. Of course we want this not to happen, but if these are the numbers, I ask you as Minister of Tourism to raise the flag so that we can remove the Ben Gurion Airport restrictions."

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