Health Ministry officials tell Channel 13 news that direct flights from India should be temporarily halted, as the Asian country battles a major coronavirus surge that has seen it set new global records for daily infections.
“We need to stop the direct flights from India to Israel for at least a few weeks until the situation stabilizes,” the officials are quoted saying.
The officials say Israel has not yet halted these flights because of students and foreign workers coming from there.
“The skies won’t fall if the direct flights stop for a few weeks. The space for error is likely to be too big,” they say.
Israeli health officials have expressed concerns about the “Indian variant” of COVID-19, fearing that vaccines may be less effective against it. So far, the strain has been detected in only a handful of infected Israelis.
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