Israel reopens its borders to tourism despite registering spikes in infections

Israel today reopened its borders to vaccinated or recovered tourists after keeping them closed for more than a month for fear of the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, which nevertheless has spread throughout the country and caused spikes of infections close to 20,000 daily .

Those who want to enter Israel with a tourist visa will be able to do so from this Sunday as long as they meet the vaccination requirements established by the Ministry of Health.

These require a complete vaccination program with any of the vaccines approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) or with the Sputnik vaccine, as long as no more than six months have passed since the last dose was administered.

Those who have had the disease must demonstrate that they have obtained a positive result to a coronavirus test in the last six months or that they have received at least one dose of a vaccine approved by the WHO, either before or after their positive result.

Tourists entering the country must submit a negative coronavirus test carried out within 72 hours prior to their trip and take another at the airport upon arrival, after which they must remain in quarantine until a negative result is obtained.

Although it was initially expected that only tourists from countries without high infection rates could enter the country, Israel decided last Thursday to abolish the so-called “red list” of countries to which Israelis were not allowed to travel and from which it was prohibited. flying, so country-specific restrictions no longer apply.

These measures coincide with the time of greatest contagion since the beginning of the pandemic due to the spread of the omicron variant.

According to figures released today by Health, 17,521 new cases of coronavirus were registered yesterday, a number slightly lower than the almost 19,000 identified the previous day, but still very high compared to previous waves.

As in other parts of the world, the rapid increase in infections has so far not been accompanied by an equivalent increase in the number of serious cases, which currently stand at 205 out of a total of 115,000 active patients. (I)