Opening in Israel: from Sunday, the use of outdoor masks will no longer be compulsory

The plan to reopen in Israel is moving forward after a successful vaccination campaign against the coronavirus. The new measure announced this Thursday by local authorities establishes that the use of next sunday outdoor mask.

The Minister of Health, Yuli Edelstein, made the decision after several weeks of debate, local media reported.

Given the low rate of COVID-19 infections, a consequence of the rapid and effective vaccination plan, the risk of contracting the virus in open areas is very limitedthe experts agreed.

Even so, Health stressed that the use of a mask indoors will remain mandatory, as the risk of infection in these settings is higher.

Without major restrictive measures, the country was able to celebrate its independence this Thursday in a festive atmosphere that saw the streets, parks and beaches of the country full of people who took advantage of the sunny day.

Israel, which has barred tourist access to prevent the spread of COVID-19 for more than a year, also announced that plans to reopen its borders to foreign visitors who have been vaccinated and come in groups from May 23, the Ministries of Health and Tourism announced Tuesday in a joint statement.

As of March 2020, Israel has only allowed access to its citizens and foreigners with residence permits, which has a significant impact on the important local tourism industry.

As agreed by the ministries, Tourists must show a negative COVID-19 test taken before arrival, and once disembarked, another PCR and serology must be performed to show they have been vaccinated and have antibodies against the virus.

More detailed guidelines for the plan will be presented in the coming days, also pending final approval.

The Minister of Tourism, Orit Farkash-Hacohen, considered this announcement as an “important first step for the tourism industry”, which can “really relaunch” with “the opening of the sky to international tourism”. This sector depended largely on Christian pilgrims who visited the sacred places of the “Holy Land” under consideration, and their absence has been very notable since the borders were closed.

Israel currently only registers around 200 new infections per day, people hospitalized in serious condition are just over two hundred and active patients do not reach 3,000, a very low figure compared to the tens of thousands of patients with the virus who appeared months ago. On April 14, he recorded 3 deaths from the disease.

According to the latest data from Our World in Data, updated April 13, 61.64% had already received the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 57.25% had already received both requests. There are already voices being encouraged to say that Israel may be on the verge of obtaining collective immunity from COVID-19.

The percentage of people who need to be immunized to gain herd immunity varies with each disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). For example, herd immunity to measles requires that about 95% of the population be vaccinated and the remaining 5% will be protected by the fact that the disease does not spread among those vaccinated. For polio, the threshold is around 80%.

If the proportion of the population that must be vaccinated against COVID-19 to talk about herd immunity is still unknown, they observe from the WHO, different estimates speak, at least, between 65% and 70%.

With information from EFE

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