Dozens of Israeli faithful who visited Uman for Rosh Hashanah and contracted COVID-19 during the celebrations faked negative test results to be allowed to return to Israel, the Health Ministry reported Thursday.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
Auhorities at Ben-Gurion International Airport continued to inspect every returnee from the Ukrainian city, fearing hundreds of more such cases among the 25,000 Israelis who traveled to celebrate festivities at the gravesite of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. Twenty more flights were scheduled from Ukraine to Israel on Friday.
According to Population and Immigration Authority data, 152 returnees tested positive for the virus by Friday morning.
In response, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett vowed full criminal charges against individuals found to be using fake test results to enter Israel.
"The Israeli government views the matter of patients fraudulently entering Israel by falsifying documents very seriously," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.
Bennett instructed authorities to take strict measures against anyone found breaking the rules. Violators will be forced to pay an ambulance to take them home for a mandatory 10-day self-isolation, which will be enforced by the Israel Police. Those who cannot quarantine at home will be required to do so at a state-run hotel. Anyone found stepping out of self-isolation ahead of time will be arrested immediately. The government was also considering mandating infected Uman returnees to quarantine for a full 14 days, the statement said.
Airport authorities were ready for the incidents, as they had predicted these would occur. A senior official told Israel Hayom that pilgrims to Uman have been known to forge passports in the past – willing to go to any means to get to Ukraine – and said that given these tactics, the idea of faking COVID tests did not seem too farfetched.
Officials increased screening efforts two weeks before Rosh Hashanah, as would-be pilgrims to Uman were desperate to reach their destination after having been denied entry to the city last year due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Itsik Saban and Ariel Kahana contributed to this report.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
