Cabinet okays shortening isolation as virus surge hits four-month high
Quarantine reduced to seven days, pending two negative tests, in effort to gain public’s cooperation • Serious morbidity stable
The isolation period in Israel was shortened to seven days, the coronavirus cabinet decided on Tuesday night, as some 745 new COVID-19 cases were registered on Monday, marking the highest number since March, although serious cases remained low. In addition, the cabinet decided to transfer responsibility for enforcement of coronavirus regulations to the Public Security Ministry.
Prior to the decision, those who were required to isolate – after coming into contact with a verified case or after returning from abroad – needed to quarantine for two weeks, which could be shortened to ten days with two negative PCR tests at the beginning and the end of the period.
Now, people will be able to take the second test on the seventh day and be released when they receive a
negative result.
“In order to increase the public’s cooperation and trust, the cabinet decided to allow those who quarantine to undergo a test on the seventh
day of their isolation, wait for a negative result and then be released,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said. “At the same time, we will increase enforcement on violations
in this matter. People who go out without a test will be fined NIS 5,000.”
“The goal of this decision is to increase the number of people respecting the isolation’s requirements,” he said. “We set measures that the public can meet.”
“We are committed to doing everything to protect public health with minimum disruption to daily life,” Health Minister
Nitzan Horowitz wrote in a tweet. “I ask each of you to act with personal responsibility, and those who need to isolate – just stay home.”
Among the measures the ministers were expected to examine were the reintroduction of the Green Pass system and a plan to let vaccinated tourists enter the country.
“We believe that there are three principles to follow in continuing to deal with
the coronavirus,” Bennett said at the beginning of the meeting: to focus on how to open as opposed to how to close; to give sufficient time before new measures come into effect so the public has time to prepare and increase their trust; and to maintain close ties with businesses to understand their needs and adjust the government’s decisions.
Until a few weeks ago, the green pass was granted to fully vaccinated and recovered individuals, or children too young to get jabbed who had undergone a PCR test in the previous 72 hours, giving them access to specific venues and activities.
According to media, the Health Ministry recommended that the cabinet require a green pass for entering any indoor event or venue with more than 100 people – including restaurants, theaters, synagogues and weddings.
As far as the plan to reopen the country’s borders to foreign nationals, Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov was expected to present a comprehensive outline to the cabinet. Israel has been closed to foreign nationals for more than a year, with limited exceptions.
Vaccinated tourists from countries with low morbidity were supposed to be allowed in starting on July 1, but the date was postponed to August 1 amid an increase of cases.
According to the new outline, those who are inoculated with a vaccine recognized by the US’s FDA or the EU’s EMA will be able to enter with just a negative PCR test, while individuals jabbed with other vaccines will undergo a rapid serological test upon arrival at Ben-Gurion Airport, with results in 15 minutes, to confirm the presence of antibodies in their blood.
Opening up by August 1 is the goal, but the decision will depend on Israel’s level of morbidity, Razvozov said.
Some 745 new COVID-19 cases were registered in Israel on Monday, and another 496 as of 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
While the number of new virus carriers is the highest since March, the serious morbidity – which the government considers the most crucial parameter to monitor – remained low.
Some 45 patients were in serious conditions as of Tuesday, two fewer than 24 hours before. In April, with a similar number of active cases – around 4,800 – there were 270 such patients.
As anticipated by the Health Ministry’s Director-General Prof. Nachman Ash in a press conference on Monday, the ministry updated the data regarding the number of tests performed daily in the last month after it was discovered that a significant number of negative PCR tests performed at Ben-Gurion had been counted twice.
While the previous data showed that in the past weekdays, the number of tests performed was often higher than 70,000, the figures after the correction stand at around 50,00055,000. As a consequence, the rate of tests returning a positive result also increased from 0.6%0.8% to 1.0%-1.3%.