Israel on Sunday (Jan. 24) ordered an end to all passenger flights to and from the country beginning Monday (Jan. 25), Israel time, and continuing through the end of the month, in a bid to slow the arrival of new mutations of COVID-19, according to a joint press release from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transport and Road Safety.
The action was taken by the Cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and includes “a ban on incoming planes to Israel except for cargo flights, firefighting flights and flights for emergency medical evacuation,” the release stated.
The measure also includes a temporary restriction on permits for Israeli airlines and a limit on exceptions to previous travel rules implemented to blunt COVID-19, according to the release. Under the new rule, the only flights allowed will be for medical treatment, judicial proceedings in which a traveler must take part or the funerals of close relatives.
The strict new regulations come less than two days after Israel’s leaders decided to allow continued travel to the country, but only by passengers who had recently been shown to be healthy via a PCR test or had shown to the government’s satisfaction that they had recovered from COVID-19, according to a previous press release.
Israel also had required strict isolation for anyone entering the country without having been vaccinated with sufficient advance time to be protected, the release stated.
A traveler who had entered Israel by air was found to be infected with a variant of COVID-19 that has been traced to Los Angeles. That traveler already had infected four people before he was identified to pose a risk, according to Barron’s.
Israel’s actions follow travel bans implemented around the world as new strains of COVID-19 appear to pose new risks in the way they spread and, possibly, their capacity to sicken their victims.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More