Israel is closing the borders

The time of Corona carelessness in Israel is over. The government responded to the first Omikron case that the authorities discovered on Friday with tough measures. As the so-called coronavirus cabinet decided on Saturday, the country will close its borders to foreigners for at least two weeks. It was not clear until Sunday afternoon whether this would only affect tourists or all foreigners living in Israel. Israelis arriving from abroad must now be in quarantine for at least three days. In addition, the domestic secret service Shin Bet, which is usually used to counter terrorism, is said to help track down contact persons of infected people by means of telephone tracking. “Imposing restrictions on national borders is not an easy step,” said Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday morning. “But it is both necessary and temporary.”

On Friday, Israel’s government declared all African states, with the exception of North Africa, to be so-called “red” states, to which Israeli citizens are no longer allowed to travel. Israelis returning from these states must go into quarantine until a negative Covid-19 test result is obtained.

As of Saturday there was a confirmed Omicron case

The decisions are controversial within the government. Justice Minister Gideon Saar, the chairman of the right-wing New Hope party, said on Sunday that he considered some of the new restrictions “not right”, including the quarantine requirement even for vaccinated Israelis and the entry ban for all tourists. “We have to maintain our economy and our routine and then impose restrictions when it is really necessary.” In his opinion, the new situation does not justify the restrictions that have been decided, which is why he voted against it.

By Saturday there was one confirmed case of the new variant and several suspected cases in Israel. According to media reports, the woman infected with the Omikron variant flew from Malawi to Israel and then took a bus from Tel Aviv to the coastal city of Eilat. Although she had to do a PCR test on arrival, the positive result was only sent to her after the mandatory 24-hour quarantine.

The situation in Israel had recently eased significantly: While the daily number of infections rose to over 11,000 in September, they were recently at a few hundred per day. It was not until the beginning of November that the country reopened its borders to individual tourists – subject to certain conditions. “I understand that everyone is sick of life in the shadow of the coronavirus,” Bennett said on Sunday. “It’s not easy, but that’s the reality.”