Israel's coronavirus infection rate stands at 1.05%, according to Health Ministry data. Of the 103,205 people who tested for the virus Wednesday, 1,021 were found to have the disease.

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There are 15,623 active cases in the country. There are 331 people in serious condition,159 of whom are on ventilators.

Although 1,296,757 Israelis have recovered from the virus, 8,030 have died.

On the vaccination front, 3,875,901 Israelis have received all three authorized doses of the coronavirus vaccine. While 5,705,275 have received two doses, 6,212,587 have received at least one dose.

With health officials reporting they had identified the first case of the highly contagious Delta sub-variant AY.4.2 in the country, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett ordered officials to update the framework for incoming tourism during a consultation meeting held Wednesday. In the consultations, experts presented Bennett with up-to-date information on the new variant, which was discovered thanks to the genetic tasting of virus samples.

The prime minister instructed officials to ramp up the epidemiological study of each new variant as well as act to significantly increase the country's ability to test for different samples and collect more information. Bennett further instructed officials to contact other countries where the variant has been found and share existing Israeli knowledge with those states.

According to a new study on vaccine efficacy among teens, vaccination is effective at preventing infection and illness in over 90% of individuals in this age group and is effective against the Delta variant.

The research study, carried out among 200,000 teenagers with Clalit healthcare insurance and aged 12 to 18, was the largest and most comprehensive study on teen vaccination to date. It was carried out in cooperation with the Clalit healthcare provider and Harvard University. The study's findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

According to the study, the vaccine proved effective at preventing infection among 90% of teenagers and 93% effective at preventing symptomatic illness just one week after receiving the second jab. Since teenagers have rarely been hospitalized with the coronavirus, researchers were unable to assess the vaccine's efficacy at preventing serious illness.

Professor Ran Balicer, who serves as chief innovation officer at Clalit, said: "The study's findings unequivocally indicate that the vaccine is highly effective at bringing down infection with the Delta variant and preventing symptomatic illness one week after receiving two doses. These conclusions provide important and established information to parents who are undecided about the vaccine for their teenage children."

Meanwhile, regulators in the US on Wednesday signed off on extending COVID-19 boosters to Americans who received the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine and said anyone eligible for an extra dose can get a brand different from the one they received initially.

The Food and Drug Administration's decisions mark a big step toward expanding the US booster campaign, which began with extra doses of the Pfizer vaccine last month. But before more people roll up their sleeves, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will consult an expert panel Thursday before finalizing official recommendations for who should get boosters and when.

The latest moves would expand by tens of millions the number of Americans eligible for boosters and formally allow "mixing and matching" of shots – making it simpler to get another dose, especially for people who had a side effect from one brand but still want the proven protection of vaccination.

Specifically, the FDA authorized a third Moderna shot for seniors and others at high risk from COVID-19 because of their health problems, jobs, or living conditions – six months after their last shot. One big change: Moderna's booster will be half the dose that's used for the first two shots, based on company data showing that was plenty to rev up immunity again.

For J&J's single-shot vaccine, the FDA said all US recipients, no matter their age, could get a second dose at least two months following their initial vaccination.

The FDA rulings differ because the vaccines are made differently, with different dosing schedules – and the J&J vaccine has consistently shown a lower level of effectiveness than either of the two-shot Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.

As for mixing and matching, the FDA said it was OK to use any brand for the booster regardless of which vaccination people got first. The interchangeability of the shots is expected to speed the booster campaign, particularly in nursing homes and other institutional settings where residents have received different shots over time.

FDA officials said they wanted to make the booster guidance as flexible as possible, given that many people don't remember which brand of vaccine they received.

"Being able to interchange these vaccines is a good thing – it's like what we do with flu vaccines," FDA's Dr. Peter Marks told reporters Wednesday evening. "Most people don't know what brand of flu vaccine they received."

Still, he added that many people will decide to get a booster from the same company as their initial vaccination.

The agency's mix-and-match decision was based on preliminary results from a government study of different booster combinations that showed an extra dose of any type revs up levels of virus-fighting antibodies.

Health authorities stress that the priority still is getting first shots to about 65 million eligible Americans who remain unvaccinated. But the booster campaign is meant to shore up protection against the virus amid signs that vaccine effectiveness is waning against mild infections, even though all three brands continue to protect against hospitalization and death.

"Today the currently available data suggest waning immunity in some populations of fully vaccinated people," said FDA's acting commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock. "The availability of these authorized boosters is important for continued protection against COVID-19 disease."

Experts continue to debate the rationale of the booster campaign. Some warn that the US government has failed to clearly articulate the goals of boosters given that the shots continue to head off the worst effects of COVID-19, and wonder if the aim is to tamp down on virus spread by curbing, at least temporarily, milder infections.

FDA regulators said they would move quickly to expand boosters to lower age groups, such as people in their 40s and 50s, if warranted.

"We are watching this very closely and will take action as appropriate to make sure that the maximum protection is provided to the population," said Marks, the FDA's top vaccine official.

In August, the Biden administration announced plans for an across-the-board booster campaign aimed at all US adults, but outside experts have repeatedly argued against such a sweeping effort.

On Thursday an influential panel convened by the CDC is expected to offer more specifics on who should get boosters and when. Their recommendations are subject to approval by the CDC director.

The vast majority of the nearly 190 million Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 have received the Pfizer or Moderna options, while about 15 million have received the J&J vaccine.

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United States regulators authorized Friday a third dose of the Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines to be administered to people with compromised immune systems who are likely to have weaker protection from the two-dose regimens.

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The US Food and Drug Administration amended its emergency use authorization for both vaccines on Thursday, paving the way for people who have had an organ transplant, or those with a similar level of weakened immune system, to get an extra dose of the same shot they initially received.

Video: Reuters

An advisory panel to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted to recommend the additional shots, and the agency's director signed off on that recommendation on Friday. Immunocompromised individuals can begin receiving the shots immediately, according to an agency spokesperson.

Mixing of mRNA vaccines is permitted for the third shot if their original vaccine is not available.

There is growing concern about breakthrough infections in vulnerable populations in the United States as the country has seen a huge spike in new infections from the highly contagious Delta variant.

The vulnerable group makes up less than 3% of US adults, Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, had said before the authorization.

"After a thorough review of the available data, the FDA determined that this small, vulnerable group may benefit from a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines," Janet Woodcock, the FDA's acting commissioner, wrote in a tweet on Thursday.

Woodcock said that others who are fully vaccinated do not need an additional vaccine dose right now.

The FDA's decision does not apply to people who received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the CDC said, because there is not enough data to support additional doses yet.

"We think that at least this is a solution for the very large majority of immunocompromised individuals, and we believe that we'll probably have a solution for the remainder in the not-too-distant future," FDA official Peter Marks told the CDC panel.

The FDA and the CDC are working to ensure that immunocompromised recipients of the J&J vaccine have optimal protection, the CDC said.

Meanwhile, scientists are still divided over the broad use of COVID-19 vaccine boosters among those without underlying problems as benefits of the boosters remain undetermined.

Pfizer has previously said the efficacy of the vaccine it developed with partner BioNTech drops over time. Moderna has also said it sees the eventual need for booster doses, especially since the Delta variant has caused breakthrough infections in fully vaccinated people.

Reports of infections among vaccinated people and concerns about diminishing protection have galvanized wealthy nations to distribute booster shots, even as many countries struggle to access first vaccine doses.

The World Health Organization last week called for a moratorium on COVID-19 vaccine booster shots until at least the end of September.

Still, Americans have already started getting additional shots, even before the FDA has authorized them. According to the CDC, more than 1.2 million people have already received one or more additional doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.

CDC officials also presented a set of guidelines to its advisory panel on Friday that it plans to use to help make its decision about whether Americans need further COVID-19 doses more broadly.

The CDC plans to hold another meeting of its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in the next several weeks where booster shots will again be discussed.

The New York Times reported on Friday that the Biden administration was already considering expanding the inoculation campaign to Americans who are not immunocompromised. 

According to the report, the administration has already allocated 100 million vaccine doses to this end as officials were ready to go ahead with the move without prior approval from health experts. 

If the administration gives the green light, the vaccination will most likely cover health care workers first, after which older Americans and the at-risk population will be inoculated. 

In doing so, the US administration will adopt the Israeli model. Sources familiar with the matter said that there was no reason to wait for official approval from health experts, especially due to the recent morbidity spike attributed to the spread of the Delta strain in the country. 

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The Delta variant of the coronavirus has led to a "surge" in coronavirus outbreaks triggering a "fourth wave" in the Middle East, where vaccination rates remain low, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

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The WHO said the highly contagious strain, first detected in India, has been recorded in 15 out of the 22 countries and territories of the region under its purview, stretching from Morocco to Pakistan.

"The circulation of the Delta variant is fueling the surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths in an increasing number of countries in WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Region," it said in a statement.

"Most of the new cases and hospitalized patients are unvaccinated people. We are now in the fourth wave of Covid-19 across the region," said Ahmed al-Mandhari, director of WHO's Eastern Mediterranean region.

As of the last week of July, "only 41 million people, or 5.5%, of the region's population, had been fully vaccinated," the WHO said.

Infections have increased by 55%, and deaths by 15%, in the last month compared to the month before. More than 310,000 case and 3,500 deaths have been recorded weekly.

Iran remains the worst-hit country in the region.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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For the first time since the start of the current COVID wave in Israel, the number of new confirmed COVID cases in a single day exceeded 2,000, with 2,112 new cases identified in the 92,770 tests processed Monday, the Health Ministry reported Tuesday morning.

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This puts the percentage of positive tests for Monday at 2.3%, which the ministry said indicates a continued rise in the number of confirmed positives.

At the time of the ministry's morning briefing, 33,322 tests had been processed since midnight between Monday and Tuesday, resulting in 544 more confirmed cases, with the percentage of positive tests at 1.66%.

The ministry also reported that as of Tuesday morning, there were 13,147 active of symptomatic COVID cases in Israel, with 238 COVID patients hospitalized. The hospitalized patients included 138 listed in serious condition, of whom 26 were on ventilators.

Since the pandemic reached Israel in early 2020, 6,461 Israelis have died of the virus.

The Coronavirus Knowledge and Information Center pointed to the fact that the virus reproduction rate continued to rise, indicating that the number of confirmed COVID cases and symptomatic cases in the country could double within the next seven to 10 days.

Interestingly, 203 of the new cases identified on Monday were people who had recently returned from abroad, 10 of whom had visited countries designated "red" due to high rates of COVID infection. Another 77 had returned from countries for which Israel has issued a serious travel warning due to the COVID situation there, and 116 from other countries. Forty of the Israelis who tested positive had been in Greece, 17 in the US, 14 in Bulgaria, and 11 in the Republic of Georgia.

Meanwhile, the last two days have seen an uptick in vaccinations, with the number of adults and teens over 12 receiving their first vaccine doses rising from a daily average of 1,100-1,600 to a daily average of 3,500-4,000 since Sunday. The percentage of children age 12-16 who have been vaccinated stood at 29.7%.

The IDF Home Front Command warned about lengthy wait times for test results due to overburdened laboratories. The Home Front Command also said that some 2,000 contact tracers were needed to meet the needs of the latest outbreak. There are currently some 1,200 contact tracers working in Israel.

On Tuesday morning, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz addressed the current outbreak, saying "Israel will be prepared with a stock of vaccines for everyone," should there be a need to administer booster shots of the vaccines.

"The numbers are going up and unfortunately, they can be expected to keep going up. We can't be apathetic to the issue, so we need to follow regulations carefully so we don't find ourselves in a serious situation," Horowitz said at a press briefing during a visit to the COVID unit at Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva.

"Our battle now in the Health Ministry is to make sure all the citizens of Israel receive the resources they need from the government. I am in touch with the Treasury so that the cabinet will be presented with a budget that significantly strengthens the healthcare system," he added.

Israel's increasing COVID numbers have not escaped the notice of the US government. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued a travel warning for "Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank" designating these areas light red or "High."

The CDC recommends that US citizens who are unvaccinated should "avoid nonessential travel to Israel."

"Travelers should follow recommendations or requirements in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, including wearing a mask and staying six feet apart from others," the CDC warning stated.

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The American Israel Education Foundation, the charitable organization affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is rescheduling two congressional trips to Israel next month over concerns tied to the coronavirus.

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The House Republican freshman trip and a bipartisan delegation of members of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees, originally scheduled for August, are now planned for February. These two delegations will now coincide with the Democratic freshman trip, which had already been planned for February 2022.

"AIEF has decided to reschedule to a later date two congressional trips to Israel that were slated for August. Given Israel's increased concern over the Delta variant and the likelihood of further travel restrictions, we decided it was not possible to offer Members of Congress a comprehensive and informative program in the midst of the current challenges," Marshall Wittmann, spokesman for AIPAC, told JNS.

"Enthusiasm for traveling to Israel remains high among these members, and we look forward to them visiting Israel with AIEF," he said.

AIPAC recently also announced that it is going to cancel its 2022 policy conference, also due to concerns about the spread of COVID.

Israel, like many other countries, has seen rising caseloads in recent weeks as the result of the new variants spreading in the country.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org

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Health officials were not presently considering closing Ben-Gurion Airport as a measure to fight the ongoing morbidity spike in the country, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said on Monday.

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Israel is scrambling to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant by strengthening existing restrictions and imposing new measures, including at the border.

The Health Ministry said on Monday that 829 new COVID-19 infections had been detected over the previous 24 hours.

"We are not talking about closing down Ben-Gurion Airport," he said during a meeting with Economy Minister Orna Barbivai, Tourism Minister Yehiel Tropper, senior officials from the health and finance ministries, and representatives from the National Security Council.

"Our approach has been and remains to take steps to curb the spread with minimal damage to the economy and maintaining routine daily life," he said.

"Yes, it is likely that more countries will soon be added to the blacklist. There is no getting around this. Arrivals and departures from Israel will be closely monitored, but we will not close the airport, we are not talking about it," said Horowitz.

The meeting largely focused on restoring the Green Pass mandate. Horowitz, together with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, is expected to ask cabinet ministers later this week to approve the Green pass outline proposed by the Health Ministry last week.

A total of 66 patients were categorized as seriously ill as of Monday morning, with 18 listed in critical condition and 12 people on respirators.

The percentage of positive tests stood at 1.71% out of 49,373 tests for the virus administered on Sunday.

Health Ministry Director-General Prof Nachman Ash warned that continued travel abroad by Israelis is liable to lead to increased levels of coronavirus infection and noted that additional travel restrictions were being considered by the government.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference on Sunday afternoon, Ash said: "This is not the time to travel abroad. The epidemic is raging in many countries overseas, and any non-essential travel is unadvisable and liable to lead to excessive levels of contagion. It can also lead to people bringing in new and possibly more dangerous mutations."

Ash called on Israelis to act responsibly. "We must not be complacent," he said. "We must follow the guidelines, including – and especially – the rule requiring us to wear face masks in enclosed spaces. We must be meticulous in adhering to quarantine rules and everyone has to go and get vaccinated."

Ash also stressed that enforcement of regulations will soon be bolstered, but that the Health Ministry is not presently seeking to impose additional regulations.

"Proper observance of quarantine rules has been shown to reduce contagion," he said. "The person who catches coronavirus from you could be your family member, your friend… it's a shame. Keep to the rules and you'll prevent the virus from spreading.

"Our aim is to enable us to start the new school year on time, after such a long time during which our children learned via Zoom or not at all. We want them to be able to learn in school," he said.

Ash also maintained that the vaccines were still effective, although he admitted that their efficacy has declined. "We are investigating this phenomenon, in order to find out whether this is simply something that happens over time, or because the Delta variant is more resistant," he said. "So far, we don't have the answer to that question."

Also Sunday, meanwhile, Israel walked back part of its policy for third coronavirus vaccination shots, saying that contrary to a recent announcement, oncology patients should actually stick with two jabs only.

Last Monday Israel began administering a third shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech inoculation to patients with compromised immune systems, including people who have had heart, lung and kidney transplants and some cancer patients.

But on Sunday, the Health Ministry said that after reviewing data on hundreds of patients from oncology wards, "the recommendation at this stage is to not vaccinate" cancer patients.

"Nearly 90% of the patients receiving chemotherapy developed antibodies following the [two doses of] vaccination, and the level of antibodies remained high a number of months after the vaccination," the ministry said in a "clarification" to the national health funds and hospitals administering the shots.

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"In addition, the vaccination could have side effects... that could affect the oncological treatment," the ministry said.

Among those who are newly eligible to receive a third dose of the COVID vaccine – with the approval of their physician – are heart, lung, kidney and liver transplant recipients; those with multiple sclerosis; and patients with rheumatological or autoimmune diseases, according to Dr. Emilia Anis, head of the Health Ministry's epidemiological unit.

The ministry also said it recommends that those eligible to receive a third dose conduct an antibody test before receiving the shot and another 14 days later "to assess the benefits."

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Prime Minister Naftali Bennett convened a meeting on Sunday devoted to more stringent enforcement of COVID regulations in light of a spike in the number of new cases and patients in serious condition.

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After the Corona cabinet decided that all aspects of enforcing COVID regulations would be the responsibility of the Public Security Ministry, the Prime Minister's Office presented a comprehensive plan on the national efforts to enforce restrictions.

Bennett has decided that confirmed COVID carriers who knowingly violate quarantine will face criminal charges and trial. Other steps to streamline enforcement measures were also laid out, including a shortened time to pay fines levied for violations.

Bennett also instructed the attorney general and the Public Security Ministry to arrange the legal aspects of electronic surveillance measures to enforce quarantines, and stressed that celebrations – particularly weddings – would be a major target of enforcement.

Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, Public Security Minister Omer Bar-lev, Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai, and Attorney-General Avichai Mendelblit all participated in the meeting.

Earlier Sunday, Horowitz told Army Radio that Israel might be facing yet another nationwide lockdown to tamp out the current outbreak.

"Certainly, it's a possibility, but we aren't talking about that right now Everyone can understand that if there's a huge outbreak and [many] seriously ill, that's where we'll wind up We are taking steps now so we don't have to go there," the health minister said.

"Without a doubt, we are seeing an outbreak of the delta variant, and that requires us to follow instructions more stringently," he added. "The entire purpose of the steps we're taking is so we don't have to instate harsher restrictions, which will have very serious results."

Horowitz also touched on the problems of COVID policies at Ben-Gurion Airport and said that "All the issues have been fixed. I remind you that a month ago, there were no restrictions on departing for or returning from these countries [under travel warnings]. Every person needs to understand his own responsibility. Don't try to find a way around."

When asked about reports of disagreements between senior Health Ministry officials about what steps should be taken to curb the outbreak, Horowitz said, "Nothing of the sort. Everyone sees this outbreak as something serious, as well as the increased numbers. We want to protect public health while causing minimum harm to day-to-day routine and everyone's ability to make a living."

Meanwhile, the number of COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition continues to rise, jumping from 52 on Friday to 63 on Sunday, the Health Ministry reported.

Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center reopened a COVID unit on Saturday, weeks after shutting down its COVID care units at the end of the third wave. Three patients on the unit are listed in serious condition, including one child.

COVID tests processed on Saturday identified 430 new cases, with a reproduction rate of 1.47. On Friday, there were 1,118 new cases reported.

As of Sunday morning, there were 6,622 active or symptomatic cases in Israel, with 94 identified after midnight between Saturday and Sunday.

A total of 124 COVID patients were hospitalized, including 18 in critical condition, of whom 16 were on ventilators.

Israel's COVID death toll since the pandemic hit the country in early 2020 stands at 6,448.

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A surge of coronavirus cases in several Middle Eastern countries could have dire consequences, aggravated by the spread of the Delta variant and low vaccine availability, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

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After a decline in cases and deaths in the WHO's Eastern Mediterranean region for eight weeks, the agency said there had been significant increases in cases in Libya, Iran, Iraq and Tunisia, with sharp rises expected in Lebanon and Morocco.

Next week countries across the region will mark the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, which traditionally includes religious and social gatherings where infections could spread.

"WHO is concerned that the current COVID-19 upsurge may continue to peak in the coming weeks, with catastrophic consequences," the agency's regional office said in a statement.

A lack of adherence to public health and social measures and "increasing complacency by communities," as well as low vaccination rates and the spread of new variants, were to blame, the WHO said.

The agency highlighted Tunisia as the country with the highest coronavirus mortality rate per capita in the region and in Africa, and noted that daily cases had almost doubled in Iran over four weeks to early July.

Overall, the number of reported COVID-19 cases in the Eastern Mediterranean region, which includes Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Djibouti as well as Middle Eastern states, had surpassed 11.4 million, the statement said.

More than 223,000 deaths had been reported, it added.

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The global death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 4 million Wednesday as the crisis increasingly becomes a race between the vaccine and the highly contagious delta variant.

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The tally of lives lost over the past year and a half, as compiled from official sources by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal to the number of people killed in battle in all of the world's wars since 1982, according to estimates from the Peace Research Institute Oslo.

The toll is three times the number of people killed in traffic accidents around the globe every year. It is about equal to the population of Los Angeles or the nation of Georgia. It is equivalent to more than half the population of Hong Kong or close to 50% of that of New York City.

Even then, the death toll is widely believed to be an undercount because of overlooked cases or deliberate concealment.

With the advent of the vaccine, deaths per day have plummeted to around 7,900, after topping out at over 18,000 a day in January.

However, in recent weeks, the mutant delta version of the virus first identified in India has set off alarms around the world, spreading rapidly even in vaccination success stories like the US, Britain, and Israel.

Britain, in fact, recorded a one-day total this week of more than 30,000 new infections for the first time since January, even as the government prepares to lift all remaining lockdown restrictions in England later this month.

Other countries have reimposed preventive measures, and authorities are rushing to step up the campaign to dispense shots.

At the same time, the disaster has exposed the gap between the haves and the have-nots, with vaccination drives barely getting started in Africa and other desperately poor corners of the world because of extreme shortages of shots.

The US and other wealthy countries have agreed to share at least 1 billion doses with struggling countries.

The US has the world's highest reported death toll, at over 600,000, or nearly 1 in 7 deaths, followed by Brazil at more than 520,000.

The variants, uneven access to vaccines, and the relaxation of precautions in wealthier countries are "a toxic combination that is very dangerous," warned Ann Lindstrand, a top immunization official at the World Health Organization.

Instead of treating the crisis as a "me-and-myself-and-my-country" problem, she said, "we need to get serious that this is a worldwide problem that needs worldwide solutions."

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Health Ministry officials warned last week that the main reason behind the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant in Israel was Israelis returning from the United Arab Emirates and Russia. Russia is currently on the govenrment's blacklist of travel destinations due to its COVID numbers. 

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Israel has recorded 841,610 coronavirus cases and 6,429 deaths since the global pandemic reached the country in early 2020.

In the 24 hours from Tuesday to Wednesday morning, 67,895 COVID tests yielded 293 positive results (a 0.5% positive rate).

A total of 50 COVID patients were hospitalized, including 24 listed in serious condition. Of the seriously ill hospitalized patients, 17 were listed in critical condition and 16 were on ventilators.

There were 1,760 active (symptomatic) cases in the country, 90% of which, experts say, were the Delta strain.

"The vast majority of cases in which the Delta variant was identified are [returnees] from the UAE and Russia, but some are also from Cyprus, Belarus, Seychelles and more," Central District Officer of Health Ofra Havkin said at a meeting with fellow health experts. 

At the same meeting, Professor Mitchell Schwaber, director of the National Infection Prevention Unit, called for the need to advise the public to reconsider traveling abroad, especially if unvaccinated. 

Coronavirus Commissioner Professor Nachman Ash added that "the recommendation not to travel abroad is already being communicated, and there is a list of countries Israelis are discouraged from visiting at this time. [Nevertheless,] Israelis will continue to travel abroad even if there is a travel ban. In July and August, we are expecting a rise in such travels." 

In the meantime, Ben-Gurion Airport is already overwhelmed with the number of arrivals. It has been struggling for weeks to tackle the crowdedness and the lines. To that end, and to curb the spread of the Delta strain, Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli has instructed the airport to separate arrivals from countries with a high rate of coronavirus morbidity, so-called "black" and "red" countries, into a separate terminal.

According to the instructions, arrivals from "black" and "red" countries will be directed to Terminal 1, and the rest to Terminal 3. 

The Transportation Ministry said in a statement its decision was made "after meeting with experts from Ben Gurion Airport and in coordination with the prime minister [Naftali Bennett], health minister [Nitzan Horowitz], and finance minister [Avigdor Lieberman] … with the aim of reducing the spread of infection." 

Six countries are currently defined as "black" – Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Russia and India. Of the six, only Russia and India continue to have direct flights to Israel. However, many tourists continue to travel to Israel from the South American countries via stop-overs in Turkey and Germany. 

Sources privy to the matter told Israel Hayom that the ministry's decision would cost millions of shekels and result in a lack of coordination among the many elements working at the airport. 

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