Cabinet fails to make decision on virus restrictions
The coronavirus cabinet failed to make a decision on measures to counter the coronavirus outbreak on Tuesday, as Israel registered 501 new cases on the previous day, marking the highest number recorded since March.
A spokesperson for the cabinet said the meeting was adjourned due to “ongoing voting in the Knesset plenum,” adding that a new meeting would be scheduled in the near future.
Among the measures the ministers discussed were requiring parents of an infected child to quarantine even if they are vaccinated, as well as to mandate undergoing a coronavirus rapid test to access events with more than 100 children or nursing homes for the elderly.
In addition, health officials were expected to recommend demanding an additional test for all those entering Israel after four days, as well as expanding the list of countries from where travelers are required to quarantine even if they are inoculated or recovered.
The list includes only a limited number of nations under travel ban: Argentina, Brazil, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa. According to the proposal, the number of countries would increase significantly to include all those that at the moment are under a travel warning – which has no practical consequences for travelers – such as the UAE and Colombia.
The government was also expected to step up enforcement against those who fail to wear their masks in closed public spaces.
In a tweet earlier in the day, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said they did not intend to impose limits on weddings or on cultural events.
Some 72,000 tests were processed on Monday – the highest in about three months – and 0.7% of them returned a positive result, for a total of 501 cases. As of 6 p.m. on Tuesday, another 367 new cases had been identified.
The country has 3,100 cases, compared to less than 200 a few weeks ago.
At the same time, since the beginning of the outbreak, the increase in serious morbidity