Israel will significantly increase COVID-19 screening at Ben-Gurion International Airport amid fears that the more contagious Delta variant, first detected in India, was entering the country.
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The Health Ministry's committee advising the government on the measures seeking to ensure Israel does not experience a fourth resurgence of the coronavirus warned that keeping Israel's main gateway open in full during the summer could spell another outbreak.
"As much as we may try to supervise [incoming travelers] at Ben-Gurion airport it is a difficult – of not impossible – mission," a senior health official warned. "If the airport stays fully open over the summer we are likely to lose control over the situation and again become vulnerable to an outbreak, especially among teenagers."
Following a meeting with ministers late Sunday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said quarantine enforcement measures were to be enhanced and that 250 police officers would be assigned to the task.
Among other possible measures discussed by ministers: an awareness campaign about the importance of quarantining upon returning to Israel from abroad; fining parents whose children violate quarantine; and comprehensively vaccinating 12- to 15-year-olds.
In February, all Israelis over the age of 16 became eligible to receive the vaccine.
Also on Sunday, Health Ministry Director-General Hezi Levi signed an order requiring the wearing of masks in schools in Binyamina and Modiin Maccabim-Reut, in both open and closed areas, following COVID-19 outbreaks in those areas. Israel lifted its indoor mask requirement on June 15.
The Delta variant has spread to more than 80 countries. World Health Organization chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said on June 18 as saying that Delta was becoming the globally dominant variant of the virus.
As of Sunday morning, the Health Ministry reported 290 active coronavirus cases in Israel, with 23 patients in serious condition, and 46 new cases confirmed since midnight. Nearly 5.5 million Israelis have received at least one shot of the vaccine; of those, 5,149,382 have received both doses.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry on Sunday called on all attendees of an indoor concert in the city of Beit Shean on June 17 to immediately enter quarantine and get tested for the virus after one of the concertgoers tested positive.
According to the ministry, the source of the infection was still under investigation but is believed to be connected to an individual that recently returned from abroad.
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