Flights will be banned for a week, while the government tries to prevent the spread of alterations, protecting a vaccine campaign.
Israel on Sunday announced a week-long ban on most incoming and outgoing flights in a bid to reduce the spread of new variants of the coronavirus novel.
The measure will begin at midnight (22:00 GMT) from Monday to Tuesday and remain in effect until next Sunday, a statement from the prime minister’s office said.
Exceptions will be made for cargo and fire flights, as well as flights for medical treatments, funerals and legal proceedings.
A panel of health and interior ministry officials will be able to grant exemptions if requested “for humanitarian or personal needs,” the statement said.
The decision came with the country in their third national coronavirus lockout, which was launched in late December and Tuesday to extend to the end of the month due to an increase in deaths from COVID-19.
Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced his government was to close the airport, after detecting mutations of the coronavirus among the rising numbers.
“We are hermetically closing the skies, with rare exceptions, to prevent virus mutations, and to ensure we make rapid progress with our vaccination campaign,” he said ahead of a cabinet meeting.
Swab samples have already been taken from passengers arriving at Tel Aviv airport. Israel has now banned incoming and outgoing flights for a week, halting efforts to halt the spread of COVID-19 and its new versions [Jack Guez/AFP]
The health ministry later announced that they had identified cases of coronavirus differentiation originating in Los Angeles.
“In the health ministry’s central virus laboratory, a variable from Los Angeles was discovered using a sequencing process,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The person who has been diagnosed with this variant has infected four other people.”
South African and British varieties have also been found in Israel.
Since the vaccine was introduced last month, more than 2.5 million strong nine-million Israeli people have been vaccinated, according to the health ministry.
On Saturday, Israel began vaccinating 16-18 year olds, who have to sit high school final exams.
Adi Cohen, 18, told AFP news agency on Sunday that she had “no choice” but to be shot.
“I have my final tests in a few weeks, so I feel like I have to take it,” she said from a clinic in Jerusalem.
For 17-year-old Shai Ohaion, getting the injection will allow him to be close to his parents again.
“I came vaccinated so that I no longer set a social pace at home. I can’t be near my parents, because they are vulnerable, which makes the situation difficult, ”he said.
“I came to support these efforts to stop the coronavirus.”