Health Ministry mulling outdoor mask recommendation, restrictions on gatherings
Officials also said to be weighing whether to ask coronavirus cabinet to require non-vaccinated people to provide a negative test result before entering certain venues
Health Ministry officials are considering a recommendation which will require Israelis to return to wearing masks outdoors, as well as reimposing restrictions on the number of people who can attend gatherings, Channel 12 news reported Saturday.
The report said that health officials were likely to push the new measures at Sunday’s meeting of the newly reestablished coronavirus cabinet as COVID-19 cases continued to rise.
In addition, officials were said to be weighing the possibility of asking the coronavirus cabinet to require those who are not vaccinated to provide a negative test result before entering certain venues.
On Friday, Israel reimposed an indoor mask requirement, as over 200 new COVID-19 cases were recorded during the previous day, the highest daily caseload in two and a half months.
The Health Ministry also called on Israelis to wear face coverings when taking part in mass gatherings outdoors, and urged those in at-risk groups or who are not vaccinated to avoid gatherings.
According to Channel 12, the Health Ministry will present the coronavirus cabinet with two main strategies: the first, quickly introduce fresh limitations to bring down morbidity; the second, avoid limitations in public and in the economy, so long as there is no significant rise in seriously-ill patients.
According to the network, the cabinet is likely to pick the second strategy, while boosting testing and contact tracing for confirmed cases, as well as enacting stricter enforcement on air travelers, who are seen as a major vector for new cases.
In addition, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett wants to bring up vaccination rates from the current number of around 10,000 a day to some 30,000.
The Health Ministry said Saturday night that 229 people had been diagnosed with COVID-19 during the past day, with 0.4% of test results coming back positive.
According to Health Ministry data, the number of active cases in Israel now stands at 1,147, with 27 people in serious condition.
There have been 840,813 confirmed cases in Israel, and 6,429 deaths from the virus, since the pandemic began.
The fast-spreading Delta variant that was first detected in India is believed to be responsible for 70% of the new cases in the country in recent weeks.
Speaking Saturday night to Channel 12’s “Meet the Press,” Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said he aimed to avoid drastic steps but that certain new restrictions were necessary to prevent the further spread of the virus.
“These measures now are intended for us not to need more severe measures that will impose restrictions on life in the country. That is not our goal,” Horowitz said.
“Health is the most important thing, but there are other important things too, so, right now, the steps are focused on the gateway to entering the country, enforcing isolation and encouraging 12 to 16-year-olds to get vaccinated,” he said.
On Monday, the Health Ministry said it would begin a greater push to vaccinate 12 to 15-year-olds and officially recommended that they do so. While that particular age group has been eligible for several weeks, the ministry stopped short of issuing an official recommendation until Monday, and the number of vaccinations among teenagers in general has remained low.
Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov told Channel 12 he would recommend a steep hike in fines for those coming in from abroad who break quarantine, perhaps as high as tens of thousands of shekels. “Those breaking quarantine should know they’ll get such a fine that they’ll think thirty times before breaking it,” he said.
He added that the airport could yet be shuttered again, if the pandemic gets out of control.
