Coronavirus in Israel: Health Min. considers clearing 'red' countries list

• Author: MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN
• Published date: 30 September 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Currently, there are three countries on the banned list – Turkey, Brazil and Bulgaria. The infection rate in these countries has been on the decline, as in most parts of the world.

The Health Ministry said it would release an official statement when a final decision is made.

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Israelis are not allowed to travel to red countries without special permission. Anyone who returns to Israel from these lands must enter isolation for a minimum of seven days.

The report was first released by Israel Hayom.

Meanwhile, Israeli children returned to school on Thursday after the Sukkot holiday filled with excitement and armed with the results of their rapid home antigen tests that were taken the night before.

"Once again, parents in Israel in all sectors taught their children... a lesson in remarkable responsibility and social commitment," said Yigal Slovik, director-general of the Education Ministry. "Despite doubts… the parents of students in preschool and elementary schools proved for the second time that they can be trusted."

Some 1.4 million antigen tests were picked up from Magen David Adom before the holiday ended and more than 90% of parents tested their children for coronavirus before sending them back to school as part of what the director-general called "Operation Antigen 2."

Some 600,000 parents reported tests through the digital reporting system provided by the Health Ministry and the rest submitted paper reporting forms, Slovik said.

Only 0.1% of students tested positive, he added. By not sending these children to school, it prevented the closure of about 1,000 classrooms and the isolation of as many as 30,000 students.

Testing children for COVID was required for entry into school on Thursday. Parents who did not screen their kids were asked not to send them.

Parents were requested to screen their kids before school started on September 1 as well. Some 8,000 cases of the virus had been identified.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has charged the Education Ministry with finding ways to help keep children out of isolation beyond the Green Class program, which next week will begin being evaluated in another 300 classrooms. Among the ideas is to arm parents with around two dozen testing kits and to ask them to screen their kids anytime they...