A top Health Ministry official says it is a “disgrace” that the government did not approve restrictions for Lag B’Omer celebrations tomorrow night at Mount Meron.
Sharon Alroy-Preis, who heads the ministry’s public health department, warns of a “danger of contagion” from vast crowds gathering at the site in northern Israel.
She says a plan for holding the festivities was drawn up carefully “by all sides,” but not implemented by the government.
Alroy-Preis also says there is not yet enough information on the “Indian variant” of COVID-19 and that she has not seen research showing the Pfizer-BioNTech is effective against it.
Earlier today, the CEO of BioNTech said he was confident the vaccine his firm developed with Pfizer is effective against the Indian strain and yesterday an Israeli expert on the COVID pandemic said the current assessment is that existing vaccines protect against the Indian variant.
The Health Ministry has called for restricting travel from India and several other countries it has flagged as high risk, but the government has yet to approve them.
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From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
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