Also introduces mandatory quarantine at special centres for returning Israelis
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel is closing entry to foreigners as of December 23 and imposing mandatory quarantine in special centres for returning Israelis due to the emergence of a new type of coronavirus.
“The government commission meeting on the coronavirus has just ended. I made the decision last night, and today we put it into effect, to close the skies of the State of Israel. Foreign nationals will not be able to enter the country, except in exceptional cases – such as diplomats. Israelis who return home after 48 hours from this point will be quarantined in special centres. If they return within the next 48 hours, they will be able to undergo quarantine at home,” his office circulated the prime minister’s remarks.
Earlier, at the start of the coronavirus commission meeting, the prime minister said he had convened it “for one purpose, and that is to close the skies completely” in order to reduce “the viral mass entering Israel as much as possible”. He asked ministers to repeat the measures taken at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 – to “close the skies as quickly as possible”, the prime minister’s office said.
On the evening of December 20, Netanyahu said Israel was closing the skies to flights from Britain, Denmark and South Africa due to the discovery of a new strain of the coronavirus. “We will add other countries if necessary,” Netanyahu wrote on Twitter at the time. At the same time, authorities decided that citizens who were in the UK, Denmark and South Africa for 14 days before returning to Israel would be “quarantined by the state in designated centres”, the prime minister’s office informed.