The government announced on Tuesday new measures aimed at helping those adversely affected by self-isolation requirements.
"The next few weeks are going to be tough," Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said at a press conference. "Israel has been providing some of the best protection to its citizens, but each and every one of us must take responsibility for our children and parents. There is no room for panic of hysteria."
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He noted that "all of the workers will have their pay guaranteed from the first day of self-isolation, and we will also provide compensation for self-employed" adding that there was a new scheme based on a specific payment mechanism for each day of self-isolation. Bennett added that the government will continue to give every Israeli student three at-home test kits free of charge and make sure businesses and employees who suffer financial losses from self-isolating workforce would get paid generously.
Earlier the government announced isolation time for asymptomatic coronavirus cases will be cut from 10 days to seven, in an attempt to keep schools and the economy open as Omicron cases continue to spread rapidly.
People infected with the coronavirus and not suffering symptoms of COVID-19 for three days can be out of isolation after seven days, the Health Ministry said in a statement. Those showing symptoms would still be required to continue to isolate for 10 days. The decision came after a ministry study of 80 cases caused by the Omicron variant of the virus. Lab tests showed that the likelihood of virus growth after seven days of illness was 6%, the Health Ministry said.
"The study conducted by Health Ministry experts shows that the chance that an Omicron patient will be contagious after this period of time is very low. We will not impose isolation beyond what is required, in order to maintain health, keep the economy, education system and culture going and to maintain routine life alongside the coronavirus," Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said.
Trying to head off nationwide paralysis, the government has been scaling back coronavirus curbs even as Bennett has warned that as many as two million to four million Israelis – out of a total population of 9.4 million – could be infected during the Omicron wave.
Having scrapped a sweeping travel curb once Omicron became widespread within Israel, the government has tried to reduce queuing at testing stations by letting most vaccinated people self-report infections by using home antigen test kits. That could shore up the workforce, 10% of which was absent last week, according to Army Radio, which projected a no-show rise to 30% next week. Reducing isolation time would free employees to go back to work sooner.
Israel has reported around 1.5 million coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic and more than 8,000 deaths. Infections soared to record highs over the past week, but hospitalizations, although climbing, remain relatively low compared with previous coronavirus waves.
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