Israel has banned noncitizens from entering the country in an effort to halt the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. The ban, approved on Saturday night by the coronavirus cabinet, is set to last for two weeks. The decision comes less than a month after Israel opened its borders to foreign tourists. The new rules go into effect on Sunday night.
Israelis returning to the country will be required to quarantine for various lengths of time, depending on vaccination status and which country they are returning from, as well as two negative PCR tests. In addition, the cabinet has ordered the Shin Bet security service to “activate cellphone monitoring in order to track verified cases of the new omicron strain, locate them and cut the chains of infections.”
The cabinet also said that the Finance and Tourism ministries will formulate ways to assist the tourism sector accordingly.
Meanwhile, according to the decision of the cabinet, performances and activities over the Hanukkah holiday will remain unchanged, as per the plan approved last week, while strictly maintaining the Green Pass rules and implementing increased enforcement.
Once verified case of the new variant has been discovered in Israel, as well as 12 suspected cases.