Coronavirus: Israel on alert for a new epidemic | Naftalí Bennett’s government assesses new restrictions

Six cities in Israel are on alert for an outbreak of coronavirus cases. The recently assumed Naftalí Bennett government is evaluating the imposition of new restrictions to stop infections that will come in addition to the use of masks in public spaces and tighter control at the airport.

As reported by the Jewish News Agency (AJN), Saturday 115 infected people have been detected in 37 cities across the country and in only 18 cases, these are people who have traveled abroad. Binyamina, in the north of the country, is Red alert; Modiin Yes Kojav Yair at Orange, while Tel Aviv, Kfar Saba and Herzliya they stay alert yellow.

Bennett’s cabinet is once again considering requiring citizens to use chin strap in public spaces -It is already compulsory, it is those that are closed-, reduce the number of people allowed to meet Yes testing unvaccinated people before allowing them to participate in certain activities.

The Israeli government has already appointed a special commissioner for increase health checks at the airport because, Bennet notes, “for a year and a half, there was a big national weak point, and it is the Ben-Gurion airport“.

“Therefore, in coordination with the Minister of Transport, the Minister of Health and the Minister of the Interior, we have decided to appoint a special director to manage the transitions and prevent the entry of this virus and future variants and virus from around the world in Israel. “Bennett said at the opening of Sunday’s meeting.

The Prime Minister assured that health control at the entrance to the country will be essential in the event that the immunity of the vaccine ceases to work or that a new variant of the coronavirus emerges.

“Israel doesn’t have a lot of border crossings; in fact, it is a kind of island state. There is no reason why we cannot defend ourselves even if there is no vaccine, ”he noted.

Bennett also clarified that although “over the past week there has been an increase in the number of identified cases,” this has not led to an increase in the number of patients hospitalized for coronavirus. “However, people should know: the Delta variant harms unvaccinated people,” he warned.

“Our approach is simple: maximum protection for Israeli citizens, with minimum damage to Israel’s routine and economy; masks instead of constraints, vaccinations instead of confinements“he claimed.

The weekly average of cases during the first half of June was around 15 per day, while it is currently around 140.

Over the weekend, the Israeli Ministry of Health reported that Saturday 113 new cases were registered and 0.4 percent of the tests were positive.

But the On Friday and Thursday, the country recorded 228 and 229 new cases respectively, although the number of tests carried out on Saturday (Shabbat rest day) was only 32,000 tests compared to the 52,000 carried out on working days.

At the same time, the number of patients with severe conditions remained stable at 26 and only seven people died because of the virus from the beginning of June to today, the lowest monthly death toll since the start of the pandemic.