COVID-19: Israel scraps red list, allows citizens to travel to all countries

In a major development for international travel, Israel has removed Turkey, Bulgaria and Brazil from the list of countries deemed to have high COVID risk. On Friday, the middle eastern state revised its travel advisory and scrapped the red list-which marked countries with high coronavirus risk. The new guidelines, created in consultations with health ministry officials, will come into effect starting Monday, October 4. 

Once implied, it would allow all Israelis to travel to any country in accordance with that country’s restrictions. Meanwhile, all passengers (with green pass) who arrive from countries in the yellow and orange list would be subjected to a quarantine of 24 hours or till they get a negative result. All the unvaccinated people would still be mandated to quarantine for seven days upon arrival in the country. 

Israel to reach herd immunity 

Israel was one of the first countries to declare itself free of the lethal respiratory infection, but a resurgence of COVID prompted authorities to introduce a third booster shot. However, as more and more people got the additional jab, authorities reckoned that the country could now move towards herd immunity against the lethal coronavirus pandemic. Last month, the country’s Health Ministry stated that if the country continues alongside high levels of COVID inoculations, there is a “good chance” that Israel will reach a situation “similar to herd immunity” in the next month or two. 

In December, the Jewish country, which commenced its mass vaccinations against COVID-19, announced infection-free April. However, as Delta variant entered Israel, the caseload began to surge. However, last month, the country introduced a third booster shot, which reduced the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 considerably. The claim was substantiated by a recent Channel 13 report which stated that people with a booster shot are 96 per cent immune against the deadly pathogen, starting a week after receiving the shot. 

Image: AP