Israel is in the midst of a fifth wave of Covid-19 due to the Ômicron variant, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday, urging citizens to step up vaccinations and take precautions such as working from home.
In a televised speech, Bennett said Israel bought some time by moving quickly to limit travel when Ômicron was first detected last month, but that that is now waning. He predicted an outbreak of illness within a few weeks.
Earlier on Sunday, a Ministry of Health advisory committee recommended that Israel add the United States to the list of “red” countries to which its citizens cannot fly without special permission. Bennett did not mention this measure in his speech.
Israel has recorded 134 confirmed cases of Ômicron and another 307 suspected cases, the Ministry of Health said. Of those, 167 were symptomatic, it said.
“The time we buy is running out,” said Bennett. “The numbers are still not high, it is a very contagious variant, which doubles every two or three days, as we see all over the world. It is possible to say that the fifth wave has already started.”
In a first rapid response to Ômicron, which was first detected in southern Africa and Hong Kong, Israel on November 25 banned the entry of foreigners and imposed quarantine orders of three to 14 days on Israelis returning from abroad.
But Bennett was also criticized internally for his wife and children’s vacations abroad, after he urged Israelis to avoid such trips.
Reference: CNN Brasil
