Israel on Tuesday announced it was easing the quarantine rules for fully vaccinated members of the public amid the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said he has accepted recommendations of various health officials to ease the compulsory isolation requirement for vaccinated Israelis, who have been exposed to verified COVID carriers. The change is expected to come into effect this coming Wednesday.
As per the new decision fully vaccinated Israelis over the age of five who have come into contact with a confirmed COVID patient, regardless of contracted variant, will be required to undergo a PCR test and remain in self isolation until a negative result is received.
Those who will have come into contact with a carrier, however, will be required to stay away from crowded events and venues, as well as from those considered at-risk, for at least ten days after leaving isolation.
Those not considered fully vaccinated who come into contact with verified patients will be required to enter self-isolation for no less than a week, as well as undergo PCR testing at the beginning and end of the isolation period.
According to the current rule, any Israeli - vaccinated or not - who came into contact with a verified Omicron patient is required to enter isolation for no less than two weeks, or one week pending two negative PCR tests.
The decision to ease the requirement for both vaccinated and unvaccinated was made following growing criticism of the current rule by ministers in the coronavirus cabinet, and due to fears that between 800,000 and 1,000,000 Israelis will be sent into quarantine within the next two weeks due to the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant.
Israel, meanwhile, logged 2,952 new COVID cases on Monday, the highest the tally has been in almost three months.
With 126,000 tests conducted, the country’s contagion rate has also increased and now stands at 2.35%.
The nation’s R number - which indicates how many people on average one COVID patients infects - has also risen and now stands at 1.47.
The changes to the country’s self isolation requirement comes days after the U.S. decided that non-symptomatic COVID patients would be required to enter five days of quarantine, compared to the previous 10-day requirement.