Israel has issued a ‘serious warning’ so its citizens do not travel to Argentina due to high rates of contagion and death from COVID-19

Israel’s health ministry issued a travel warning for Argentina on Sunday, before entering the red list of countries with an exit ban given high rates of contagion and death from coronavirus. The notice was published in a document from the spokesperson’s office entitled: “Seychelles, Argentina and Russia are defined as countries with a serious travel advisory ”, following a resolution taken last Thursday 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 invited to prepare accordingly ”.

If the warning materializes, by definition, those who wish to travel to the “ red countries ” can only do so with the approval of the “ Exception Commission ”, the entity responsible for the ‘granting of permits according to very rigid and pre-established parameters. To this end, the order will be made using a digital form on the ministry’s website. For the rest, travel will be prohibited until further notice.

“There are different parameters which include the contagion rate of the country, information on the variants and the number of admissions to Israel with the virus,” says Dr Asher Salmon (55), director of international relations at the Israeli ministry of health.

“If the situation worsens, until the weekend, Argentina will be defined as’ class two”, said the specialist. “And the decision will be reviewed every two weeks,” he added.

Therefore, those returning to Israel after remaining in such at-risk states will have to enter 14-day administrative segregation, even if they have already been vaccinated or recovered from Covid.

High-risk countries so far include: Ukraine, Ethiopia, Brazil, India, South Africa, Mexico, and Turkey.

“My recommendation to anyone and anywhere is to postpone non-essential travel,” said Salmon.

Following its successful vaccination campaign, Israel is now under “herd immunity” with only 12 positive cases reported in the past 24 hours and a total of 6,402 deaths from the pandemic.

In this context, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein has revealed that he will not ask for the restrictions to be extended when they expire on June 1, which means that a vaccination certificate or social distancing will not be no longer needed in any public space. “Israel is returning to normal. Less than six months ago, we launched the vaccination campaign. Thanks to the excellent work of the health system workers, we are carrying out the best vaccination campaign in the world. We have long reaped our reward with low morbidity, ”said the manager proudly.

The authorities have clarified that, in all cases, the use of masks will continue to be required in closed spaces.

In Argentina, the scenario is very different. On Wednesday, May 19, it recorded the peak in daily cases since the start of the pandemic with 39,652 infections. From that date, although the number decreased, the numbers remained high. On Thursday, May 20, there were 35,884; on Friday 21, 35,468; and yesterday, Saturday, 32,171. The strong circulation of the virus, added to the peak of 745 deaths reported in a single day and the high attendance at intensive care units, has prompted the government to declare 9 days of strict containment.

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