Israel is Banning Entry of All Foreigners Due to Omicron Variant

By
Tan Shi Hui
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Unless you’ve been avoiding the Internet like how you avoid the coronavirus, you’d know about Omicron, the latest COVID-19 variant that has us all shivering in our pants lately.

Some countries like Singapore have decided to stop travellers from South Africa and its neighbouring country to enter the borders as a way to curb the virus.

However, there’re also countries like Israel that is restricting all foreigners from entering their borders.

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Is this measure too drastic or should other countries follow suit? Well, you can decide for yourselves as this article will touch more on that travel ban and the reason behind it.

Israel Banning Entry of All Foreigners Due to Omicron Variant

Unlike Singapore that only restricts travellers from South Africa and its neighbouring countries, Israel is taking the travel ban up a notch – all foreigners will be restricted from entering Israel.

Additionally, all Israelis who enter the country will be required to quarantine regardless of their vaccination status.

This travel ban will be imposed at midnight between Sunday (28 Nov) and Monday (29 Nov).

If you’re thinking, just ban those coming from South Africa and its neighbouring countries lah, why so serious?

Well, they already did – Israel has a travel ban on foreigners coming from most African states from Friday (26 Nov). Now, they’re just expanding it to everyone else.

This travel ban will last two weeks, but it is still pending government approval as of this writing.

Why two weeks only? Well, because that is also the same amount of time needed to determine if the current vaccines will work against the Omicron variant.

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According to Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, they believe the variant has travelled to nearly every country, which is why they’ve taken the drastic measures.

They also believe that the vaccines work but since they are unsure how well they work, the travel ban has to be imposed for two weeks.

Counter-Terrorism Phone-Tracking Technology

Aside from the travel ban, Israel will be using counter-terrorism phone-tracking technology to contain the Omicron variant.

The Shin Bet counter-terrorism agency’s phone-tracking technology help locate carriers of the new variant and those they come in contact with.

This technology has been used on and off since March 2020. However, the technology was not utilised constantly because of privacy concerns raised by civil rights groups.

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One Confirmed Case of Omicron

As of this writing, Israel has one confirmed case of Omicron and seven suspected cases. It is unsure if the confirmed case was vaccinated. Three of the seven suspected were fully vaccinated, and three seemed to be local transmissions.

57% of Israel’s 9.4 million population is fully vaccinated. That is about 4.7 million people.

Unlike in Singapore, being fully vaccinated means you got your second dose two weeks before, their definition of fully vaccinated is more drastic.

To be deemed fully vaccinated there, you would either need three shots of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine or have your second dose of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine five months ago.

Luckily, this was not imposed in Singapore or else it will be like Circuit Breaker all over again.

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Featured Image: Elena Dijour/ shutterstock.com

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Tan Shi Hui
Email: [email protected]