Israeli authorities postpone opening borders for vaccinated tourists

The Israeli authorities have postponed the opening of borders for tourists vaccinated against the CORONAVIRUS until August 1, the office of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement.

Group tours will not be affected by the measure.

Israel was supposed to open its borders to vaccinated tourists from July 1. it was expected that the vaccinated would be able to enter the country without prior permission from the authorities. 

However, Israel decided to postpone the opening of borders for vaccinated tourists against the backdrop of the spread of the Indian Delta strain of coronavirus in the world. This variant is more contagious, according to the World HEALTH Organization. After its discovery in India, the country experienced a new outbreak of covid-19 , which authorities called a "coronavirus storm".

“Our goal now is first and foremost to protect citizens from the delta strain that is raging in the world. <...> Therefore, we decided to act as soon as possible so as not to pay a higher price later, ”said Bennett.

The authorities also decided to return the mandatory wearing of masks if the daily increase in coronavirus cases in Israel stays above 100 people during the week. The mask regime in the country was canceled in early June, The Times of Israel reported, citing the Ministry of Health.  

Over the past day, 111 new cases of COVID-19 infection have been detected in Israel, the Ministry of Health said. In total, since the beginning of the pandemic, 840.2 thousand infected people have been registered in the country, 6.4 thousand infected people have died.