Covid-19: Israel will reopen its doors to tourist groups – franceinfo

Good news on the fight against Covid-19. After a month’s hiatus due to a new wave of contamination, Israel will reopen its doors from September 19 to groups of foreign tourists, authorities said on Sunday (September 5th).

On the strength of an intense vaccination campaign last winter, the Hebrew state had deconfined most of its economy in the spring and in May authorized groups of foreign tourists to enter the country following the health protocol. But the authorities had frozen this program on August 11 due to a new influx of cases linked to the Delta variant, especially among the unvaccinated.

Last week, when school started, the country recorded a record, with around 11,000 infections in one day. Since then, the number has decreased to 4,975 contaminations on Saturday, according to the Ministry of Health, which also reported a reduction in serious cases.

The Ministry of Tourism has announced that from September 19, groups of tourists composed of five to thirty people will be admitted to Israel again, except those coming from countries on its “red list”. This currently includes Brazil, Turkey, Bulgaria and Mexico. The authorities have not yet announced a date for the reception of individual tourists.

“There are no limits to the number of foreign groups allowed to enter Israel”, specified the Ministry of Tourism, adding that, from May to August, “more than 2,000 tourists have entered Israel, mainly from the United States and Europe”, and “no case of Covid has been identified among these groups”. Tourists will need to have received a second dose of the vaccine within the past six months, or proof of a third dose, authorities said.