Israel has classified Argentina as a ‘higher risk’ country due to coronavirus cases and its citizens will only be able to travel with a special permit

The Israeli Ministry of Health Resolved to include Argentina among the six countries considered “at highest risk”, due to the critical situation in the country regarding the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, and applied restrictions and special conditions to air traffic between the two nations.

Thus, the government of Naftali Bennett bans traditional travel by local citizens to this South American destination. The only way to be able to make the transfer This will be through a special request to the Exceptions Committee, in which the health authorities of that country will analyze each case and resolve the possible authorization.

In the latest update to the risk table produced by the Israeli Ministry of Health, Argentina has been placed in the list of countries at highest risk for passenger transit with Brazil, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa.

Thus, Israeli citizens who wish to visit Argentina must complete the special authorization request to the Exceptions Committee. In it, they must provide a justification why they want to make the trip. This regulation will not apply to foreign citizens.

For the income of residents of Israel in one of the six “highest risk” countries, the local health ministry has determined that must undergo a period of compulsory isolation, even being vaccinated or already cured of covid-19. Only exempt from this measure citizens who stayed less than 12 hours in the transfer area from one of the airports in those countries.

As, foreign citizens disembarking in Israel from these same countries will have to isolate themselves in a hotel preselected by local government.

Israeli health authorities are based on three possible factors to qualify a foreign nation as a “higher risk country“:

1) When the number of new cases imported by travelers who have stayed in one of these countries in the last 30 days exceeds 50.

2) When the number of new cases imported by travelers who were in one of these countries in the last 30 days exceeds 10 and exceeds 0.5% of the total number of travelers entering Israel from that country.

3) Due to the high levels of morbidity and new cases in this country, combined with the frequency of infections of the so-called variants of concern and the proportion between the positive cases and the total number of travelers entering Israel from this destination.

Argentina had already been on the edge of this ranking at the end of May, when the Israeli authorities they warned their citizens about the risks of visiting the country.

The notice in question was published through a document from the spokesperson’s office, entitled: “Seychelles, Argentina and Russia defined as countries with serious travel warning “, following a resolution taken at a situation meeting in Jerusalem.

They also warned: “If they do not reflect a substantial improvement in contagion levels, then they are to be expected to fall into the list of countries with the highest risk index. The public is responsible for preparing accordingly ”.

Following its successful vaccination campaign, Israel is now under “collective immunity”. In Argentina, the scenario is very different. On Sunday, the Nation’s Health Ministry reported that over the past 24 hours, 301 deaths and 10,395 new coronavirus infections have been recorded. The number of infections reported that day is the lowest since April 4, when 9,955 positive cases were reported.

With these data, the total number of people infected since the start of the pandemic stands at 4,268,789 and the fatal victims are at 89,043.

In contrast, in the last 24 hours, 49,306 tests were performed, with 21.08% positivity. Since the start of the epidemic, 15,840,430 diagnostic tests for this disease have been carried out. To date, 289,533 active positive cases have been registered nationwide and 3,890,213 recovered.

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