Israel will close its borders to all foreigners on Sunday to prevent the spread of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus, authorities said.
“The entry of foreign nationals into Israel is prohibited except in cases approved by a special commission,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement, adding that the measure would take effect on Friday. Sunday evening.
Israeli citizens will be required to present a negative PCR test and self-isolate for three days if they have been immunized against the coronavirus and seven days if they have not.
Just four weeks ago, Israel reopened its borders to foreign tourists after a prolonged closure due to Covid.
The measure is decided by a cabinet committee tasked with overseeing Israel’s Covid response and must be approved by the entire cabinet by Sunday morning.
The government’s latest announcement comes just hours before the sundown start of the eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights.
It imposed a series of emergency measures late on Friday to protect its densely vaccinated population after identifying a case of the new Covid-19 variant.
The Ministry of Health said the new strain of bacteria first discovered by South Africa – called B.1.1.529 – was detected in a person from Malawi.
Two other suspected cases have been detected in people returning from abroad, and added that all three, who have been vaccinated, have been placed in quarantine. The government then announced another suspicious case.
Scientists in South Africa said on Thursday that they had discovered the new B.1.1.529 variant with at least 10 mutations, compared with two for Delta or three for Beta.
Authorities in South Africa say the strain is of “serious concern” and is believed to be responsible for the rise in infections.
It has also been spotted in Botswana and Hong Kong among travelers from South Africa, as well as in Belgium.
The new variant “is of great interest and potentially very dangerous. We are raising red flags,” Israeli Foreign Minister Naftali Bennett said late Friday.
He said Israel will order 10 million PCR test kits.
Israel was one of the first countries to launch a vaccine against the coronavirus last year, thanks to a deal with Pfizer that gave it access to millions of doses in exchange for vaccine effectiveness data.
The initial rollout of Pfizer-BioNTech jab’s vaccine was one of the fastest in the world, and more than 5.7 million of the country’s nine million people are now fully immunized.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from the feed provided.)
