The Ministry of Health announced: All countries of the world will be defined as red starting tomorrow (Sunday). This means that those who have returned from abroad will have to go into isolation for 14 days. Alternatively, returnees will be able to perform a first corona test upon their return to Israel and a second test nine days after landing, and if both tests are negative they can leave isolation 10 days later. Hours between the two tests).
As for the countries that have been green until today, the Ministry of Health has announced that those who return from them in the coming week (until December 26) will be exempt from isolation.
The following is a list of these countries: Australia, UAE, Seychelles, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, New Zealand, China, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Fiji, Cuba, South Korea, Rwanda and Thailand.
During December, about fifty thousand Israelis were supposed to visit Dubai, but if there is no last-minute change, the numbers are expected to drop very significantly. It is important to emphasize that it is still possible to fly abroad, what is changing is the issue of isolation back in the country.
Sources in the Ministry of Health, including Dr. Sharon Alrai-Price, were the ones who pushed for the move. Last week, they tried to promote it, but efforts by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs managed to block the decision.
Airlines are already expressing anger over the decision and understand that most workers will have to go to the IDF again, following demand that is expected to drop by tens of percent.