Corona in Israel: Gov't approves gradual reopening of restaurants, airport
Starting today, the airport will partially reopen and some 1,000 Israelis will be able to enter the country.
By ROSSELLA TERCATIN, MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMANUpdated: MARCH 8, 2021 09:42Jerusalemites wearing face masks for fear of coronavirus walk on Jaffa road in the City Center of Jerusalem on July 12, 2020. Israel has seen a spike of new COVID-19 cases, cabinet ministers imposed new restrictions on public gatherings in a bid to stem the rising infection rate of the coronavirus(photo credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)
The government approved on Saturday night a new round of openings that is set to take place on Sunday, which will include restaurants, event halls, grades 7-10 and the country’s borders.The decision marks the beginning of the third phase of the exit strategy from the lockdown.The regulations will be valid until March 20.The limit on general gatherings was increased to 20 indoors and 50 outdoors and the restrictions on the number of passengers in private vehicles were abolished. Moreover, businesses and venues are not going to be obligated to take the temperature of customers at the entrance.Green passport holders – those who are at least a week past the second shot of the coronavirus vaccine or who have recovered from the disease – will enjoy several benefits.According to the regulation, babies under the age of one will also be able to enter places reserved for fully immunized people. Moreover, those who participated in the clinical trial of the vaccine developed by the Israel Institute for Biological Research will become eligible for the green passport.Restaurants and cafes will welcome fully vaccinated patrons indoors and up to 75% of their capacity, with a limit of 100 people. Everyone will be able to sit outdoors – again up to 100 people. Hotels – which are reserved to green passport holders and children under 16 who present a negative corona test – will be able to operate their dining halls at up to 50% capacity with the limit of 300 people.In addition, event halls will be able to resume activities. While the coronavirus cabinet had proposed to only allow green passport holders to access the venues, with a limit of 50% of the hall’s capacity or up to 300 people, the ministers decided Saturday that a limited amount of guests (5%) could also not be vaccinated or recovered.Also cultural, sports and conference halls will operate with a limited audience.Moreover, starting from Sunday, the airport will partially reopen. In the initial phase some 1,000 Israelis will be able to enter the country every day. The number is expected to increase to 3,000 within a few days. The mandatory quarantine in coronavirus hotels is canceled, and returnees are going to be required to isolate at home.The special governmental committee, which over the past month and a half has been in charge of authorizing which people can travel, will continue to operate only to process the applications of those who are not vaccinated or recover and wish to leave the country.Green passport holders will be able to depart within the scope of flights authorized by the Transportation Ministry.Starting from Sunday the government authorized flights from New York, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Kyiv, Toronto and Hong Kong.Higher education institutions and yeshivot will be able to return to operate in person under the green passport program, provided that they also provide alternatives for students without a green passport and appropriate distance between students and instructors.Schoolchildren in grades 7-10 in green, yellow and light orange cities where over 70% of people over 50 have been vaccinated will also return to their classrooms, after about a year of learning online.According to the Education Ministry, only 9% of the teachers have not been vaccinated or recovered, while some 62% are fully inoculated, 15% have received the first shot and 14% recovered from the virus.The number of Israelis getting the jab, although decreasing in terms of how many people get vaccinated per day, continues to be striking. So far more than 4.9 million Israelis have been inoculated with at least one shot, among them over 3.7 million have had their second shot.According to Eran Segal, a computational biologist for the Weizmann Institute of Science, as of Friday about 90% of people over the age of 16 in the general sector have recovered from the virus or had at least one dose of the vaccine. Some 70% of haredim and 67% of Arabs have also had one dose.He added that only 100,000 people over the age of 50 have not been vaccinated or recovered from the virus.He said when looking at the percentage of people over 50 who have been vaccinated or recovered: 98% in the general community (31,000 people left to go), 81% of haredi (22,000 left) and 84% of Arabs (47,000 left)Moreover he tweeted that, before vaccination, around 27% of new daily cases were 19 years or younger and today around 47% of cases fall in that age range. In contrast, 25% of new cases were 50 years or older before the vaccines. Now, only 11% of new cases are in that age range.Some 3,716 people were diagnosed with the virus on Friday – similar to the figure on the previous day – the Health Ministry showed Saturday night. Over 105,000 tests were administered, the highest number in over a month, with some 3.6% returning a positive result. There were 710 patients in serious condition and the death toll rose to 5,856.
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