COVID: Tourism plan, shortening of isolation to be discussed in the cabinet

Some 45 patients were in serious condition Tuesday morning, including two less than 24 hours earlier. In April, with a similar number of active cases – around 4,600 – there were some 270 such patients.

As predicted by the Director General of the Ministry of Health, Professor Nachman Ash at a press conference on Monday, the ministry updated data regarding the number of tests carried out daily over the past month, after discovering that ‘a significant number of negative PCRs performed at Ben-Gurion Airport had been counted twice.

While previous data showed that in the last days of the week the number of tests performed was often over 70,000, after the correction the figure is around 50,000 to 55,000. As a result, the rate of tests returning a positive result also fell from 0.6-0.8% to 1-1.3%.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz were due to meet with health officials in the early afternoon to prepare cabinet.

Among other things, the cabinet is expected to discuss possible measures to contain the current outbreak, including an abbreviated version of the green pass.

Until a few weeks ago, the green pass was granted to fully vaccinated and recovered people or to children too young to be bitten who had undergone a PCR test in the previous 72 hours, giving them access to places and to specific activities.

Under the new proposals, events of more than 100 people would only be open to people who have been vaccinated, recovered or have a negative corona test, according to Israeli media.

After Bennett asked the Department of Health to examine the possibility of reducing the quarantine period – which currently lasts at least 10 days with two negative tests or two weeks without – health officials reportedly recommended a reduction in the isolation at seven days.

Regarding the plan to reopen the country’s borders to foreign nationals, Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov is expected to present a comprehensive plan to the cabinet.

Israel has been closed to foreign nationals for over a year, with a few exceptions.

Vaccinated tourists from low-morbidity countries were to be allowed from July 1, but the date was postponed to August 1 due to the increase in cases.

According to the new scheme, those who are inoculated with a vaccine recognized by the US FDA or the EU EMA will be able to enter with just a negative PCR test, while those injected with other vaccines will undergo a rapid serological test at their arrival at Ben -Gurion Airport, with results in 15 minutes, to confirm the presence of antibodies in their blood.

The goal is to open on August 1, but the decision will depend on Israel’s level of morbidity, Razvozov said.