COVID-19: Israel Removed From EU Safe Country List, One-Day Infection Tally Over 10,000

Almost 11,000 Israelis joined the ranks of COVID-19 patients on Sunday – the pandemic’s highest one-day total. Equally alarming, Israel’s test positivity rate hovered at 7.5%. In response, the Green Pass has been extended: It must now be shown not only by attendees entering public venues but teachers, doctors and health professionals in order to be admitted to their work facilities. About 100,000 schoolchildren will be stuck at home, in quarantine, while their peers begin classes on the first day of the school year, September 1. Meanwhile, the European Union has decided to remove Israel (and the United States) from its Safe Destination list. The new regulations applied to Israel mark its “fall from grace” after having once been envied as a nation seemingly well on the path to beating back the virus.