COVID in Israel: Arrivals from Austria, Australia, Moldova ordered into quarantine

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Israel’s Health Ministry added on Monday Austria, Australia and Moldova to the list of countries from which arrivals need to quarantine. Meanwhile, Bahrain, Slovakia and Poland were removed from the mandatory quarantine list for vaccinated people.

The new measures at Ben-Gurion Airport will take effect starting August 31.

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Passengers from Hong Kong, Hungary, Taiwan, New Zealand, China, Singapore, Czech Republic still aren’t required to enter isolation.

Bulgaria, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey remain on the list of countries where travel is barred. People who wish to travel to these countries must apply for a permit in advance.

Georgia and Spain were taken off the red list.

Quarantine time can be shortened from two weeks to seven days upon the receipt of two negative tests results. The first test will be taken on the arrival at the airport, and the second is to be taken on the seventh day of isolation. This list of countries is expected to be updated according to the trend of the pandemic in countries all over the world.

Israelis who are not vaccinated or having recovered from COVID are required to go into quarantine irrespective of the destination they visited.

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The new guidelines come as Israel recorded its lowest infection rate since early June, but serious coronavirus cases are still climbing and now stand at 670, the highest such figure in three months.

Israel is stepping up its vaccination efforts to curb the infection wave, administering third jabs. Close to 1.5 million people, out of the country’s population of 9.3 million people, have received a third vaccine shot.

In another development, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave its full approval on Monday for the COVID vaccine developed by Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech, for patients 16 and over. This follows emergency basis use that the agency had early cleared for patients 12 and over.