Proposed new restrictions to combat the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus in Israel topped the cabinet's agenda at its weekly meeting Sunday.
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Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, "This government did something great when it decided, three weeks ago, to limit entry to Israel and delayed the infiltration of the variant. We bought Israel precious time, we held of Omicron for at least three weeks."
But now, Bennett said, "Time is up … Omicron is in Israel, in other words, there is already community spread, and we're seeing a rise in the reproduction rate. It's started. This time, because of the very contagious nature of this variant, we need to understand – the collective, national protection that the government provides isn't enough. Everyone, every citizen, has to take care of themselves, their families, and their children.
"Don't depend on your neighbor having been vaccinated and vaccinating their kids. It won't help you much. The wave is arriving. Every family has to prepare. Every person needs to make sure that they have three shots and that their kids are vaccinated," Bennett warned.
Also on Sunday, the government approved the addition of the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Finland, France, and Sweden to Israel's no-fly list. The ban will take effect on Monday, Dec. 20.
The reproduction rate of the virus in Israel continues to rise, standing at 1.14 on Sunday morning, the Health Ministry reported – the highest R rate since Sept. 5.
A single family that returned from South Africa is behind the spread of the omicron variant in Israel, according to a report in The Jerusalem Post.
At present, more than 130 cases of omicron have been officially identified in the country, but health authorities say hundreds more cases may be in circulation.
The ultra-Orthodox family of four, originally from Jerusalem, traveled to South Africa (a red country) and refused to quarantine on their return, as required by the new restrictions.
The members of this family had a first PCR test on the day of their arrival in Ben-Gurion International Airport which turned out negative, then they went to work and sent their children to school when they were supposed to remain in quarantine for a week.
A few days later, the family underwent further PCR tests which came back positive. More than a dozen people were then said to have been infected.
The 74,102 COVID tests processed nationwide from Saturday to Sunday resulted in 372 confirmed new cases, the ministry reported. As of Sunday, there were 6,772 active or symptomatic COVID cases, with 81 patients hospitalized in serious condition. Of those, 39 were on ventilators.
Since the pandemic hit Israel in early 2020, a total 1,354,929 residents have contracted the virus, and the total COVID death toll stood at 8,232 as of Sunday.
Meanwhile, Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu was asked to enter self-isolation on Friday after a personal trainer he worked with on Wednesday tested positive for COVID. According to the Health Ministry, four Knesset employees tested positive for the virus last week, one of whom is suspected to have contracted the Omicron variant.
Contact tracing resulted in 130 Knesset employees being asked to self-isolated, including Netanyahu and MK Simon Davidson. Netanyahu took a test that came out negative.
Last week, Bennett and Defense Minister Benny Gantz were forced to self-isolate after it turned out that COVID carriers had been with them on their return flights to Israel from the United Arab Emirates and the US, respectively.
On Saturday night, the cabinet began evaluating the possibility of issuing a fourth round of COVID vaccinations to the general public.
A special team has been appointed to look into the idea and is scheduled to meet this week.
The news comes after a new study by Imperial College London in England, parts of which were published in the Financial Times, reported that according to initial findings, there was no ground to believe that the Omicron variant was less dangerous than the Delta variant, even though as of mid-December there were fewer patients hospitalized worldwide than there were during the Delta wave. One reason for the comparatively few hospitalizations is that many more people are vaccinated than were vaccinated when Delta emerged.
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The researchers said that their work had found no evidence that the Omicron variant was either less contagious or less likely to cause serious symptoms if contracted.
The researchers pointed out that at this point, the data on COVID cases caused by Omicron was still extremely limited, and suggested that it would be a few weeks before the severity of the new variant could be fully assessed.
Pfizer said on Friday that it would take until 2024 for the world to overcome the coronavirus pandemic.
Pfizer's announcement came after it was discovered that the children's dose of its COVID vaccine was creating a less robust immune response than hoped. Dr. Mikael Dolsten, chief scientific officer at Pfizer, said during a conversation with investors that Pfizer predicted that in some regions, the pandemic would remain at current levels for the next year or two and that certain countries would see low numbers and contained morbidity for the same period of time.
According to Pfizer, by 2024 the virus will be limited to certain parts of the world, and the new variants that appear will affect the spread of the virus.
i24NEWS and Erez Linn contributed to this report.
