Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz have decided to end mandatory isolation for schoolkids who come into contact with confirmed virus patients, as originally planned, despite health officials reportedly recommending postponing the move.
The plan will come into effect tomorrow.
According to the Ynet news site and other outlets, the heads of the ministry had sought to delay the move by a week due to soaring infections.
Under the plan, all students — both vaccinated and unvaccinated — will need to take two antigen tests a week, on Sundays and Wednesdays, and present negative results when entering educational institutions.
Children who test positive for COVID-19 will need to isolate until they test negative and have no symptoms.
Tomorrow, in a one-time directive, all students are also asked to test before coming to school.
The move is aimed at keeping children in school despite the Omicron variant wave, which has infected record numbers of Israelis.
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From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
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