Approved: Flights to 7 'dangerous' areas will be banned. And what will happen to anyone who returns from there?

April 27, 2021   

After an urgent discussion between senior officials from the Ministry of Health and the National Security Council: Health Minister Yuli Edelstein will submit a new policy procedure for those leaving and entering from abroad for government approval. Free: How much money are you losing because you don't know what your rights are? Traveling by bus to Hilula in Meron? All the details you need to know What do you say about white chocolate with cookie crumbs? And what about a tasty snack? The coronavirus outbreak is on the decline, but do you remember what is still needed? Health officials recommend dividing the countries into two groups: the first (Level 1) will contain most of the countries in the world, while the second (Level 2) will be a group of "high-risk" countries, in which the policy will be tightened. The tightening of the existing policy will be carried out as follows: • The departure of Israelis will be completely prohibited (with exceptions). • Israelis returning from Level 2 countries will be required to quarantine, even if they are vaccinated or recovering. • Foreigners who are exceptionally approved from Level 2 countries will enter a hotel. The stricter conditions will apply to anyone who has stayed in one of the Level 2 countries during the 14 days prior to arriving in Israel. The criteria for Level 2 countries will be based on the work of the Information and Knowledge Center that was formulated regarding travel warnings, which include reference to the presence of suspicious or dangerous variants in the country, in addition to the rate and number of patients returning from these countries to Israel. Currently, this level includes 7 countries - India, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico and Turkey. The countries will be updated every two weeks, and if there is an exceptional country in terms of morbidity, an exceptional declaration will be made. Senior officials from the Ministry of Health are also seeking to consider the possibility of completely stopping flights from India, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico and Turkey, to which a travel warning has been issued. On the other hand, the project manager and Magen Israel believe that there is no point in stopping flights at this stage. Despite the difficult conditions in India, project manager Prof. Nachman Ash said in internal discussions at Magen Israel that he believes that there is no need to stop flights. According to him, there is currently only one flight per week, so the potential for infection is relatively low. In addition, even if they decide to stop direct flights, people will be able to reach Israel on connecting flights from other destinations - and therefore the effectiveness of this tool is relatively weak. At the same time, and following the spreading disease situation around the world and the discovery of new variants, the Ministry of Health is postponing the incoming tourism pilot until June.