The Israeli government announced Monday, January 3, that its borders will reopen next week 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.
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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.
One month closed
Most of the countries are currently on this "
orange
"
list
, presenting an average risk linked to the coronavirus, the "
red
"
list
, at high risk, comprising 17 countries including France, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa. South and the United States. On Monday, the Classifications Committee however recommended removing seven countries from this red list, including France, Canada and South Africa.
The Hebrew state had closed its borders to foreign nationals, with certain exceptions, on November 28, a few days after the discovery of this highly contagious variant in a passenger returning from Malawi, in the hope of minimizing the spread of Omicron within Population. But just like in Europe and North America, Israel is seeing a significant jump in contamination these days, making border closures obsolete, local public health experts suggested last week, with the Omicron variant now circulating. ample in the country.
"
You close the borders in order to delay the entry of a variant or the number of cases linked to a variant, but when this variant is present and propagates, it is no longer useful to close the borders, it is not more logical,
"Ronni Gamzu, former director of the Israeli government's anti-Covid strategy, told a group of journalists on Monday.
In hopes of mitigating the impact of the spread of the Omicron variant, the country on Monday began offering a fourth dose of the vaccine to people aged 60 and older, deemed to be at higher risk of developing severe symptoms in the event of the disease. contamination.