Airports spokesman: 45-minute test could enable ‘medical passport’ for Israelis

Ofer Lefler, spokesman for Israel’s Airports Authority, tells Channel 12 news there’s a “very good chance” that either a government or private lab will soon make available a 45-minute test to enable Israelis to fly overseas with a “medical passport” showing they’re healthy.

He notes that Austria is already resuming air travel on that basis.

The TV station’s health reporter Yoav Even notes that some Israeli hospitals already use such tests, but that they are four times as costly as the normal COVID-19 tests, and cites a figure of 190 euros (about $205, or NIS 720).

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Monday announcing a resumption of domestic flights within weeks, said Israel was looking to “reconnect to the world” without risking new contagion from overseas virus epicenters.