Top health official says 3rd lockdown may not be Israel’s last

A top health official says Israel’s current lockdown, its third since the start of the pandemic, may not be its last.

“In the coming weeks, we’ll know if there will be a fourth lockdown,” Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of public health services at the Health Ministry, tells the Kan public broadcaster.

In the interview, Alroy-Preis also addresses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip next week to the United Arab Emirates, which comes as the airport has been largely closed to prevent the import of new virus variants.

“We are in a situation in which we are making an effort not to bring new strains of the coronavirus into [Israel]. I assume the prime minister will make his considerations. There is a professional health opinion paper calling to keep entry and exit from the country to the minimum,” she says.