Israel has reportedly decided to halt all inbound and outbound passenger flights starting midnight on Tuesday until Jan. 31 in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 variants.
The proposal, approved by the cabinet on Sunday, bans foreign planes from landing in Israel until the nation’s coronavirus lockdown is set to end.
According to Haaretz, an Israeli news website, foreign cargo planes, firefighting planes, and medical emergency flights are exempt from the ban. Israeli airlines are also subject to the restrictions, however, details have yet to be announced.
Flights allowed to leave the country under the restrictions are reportedly limited to medical treatment, legal proceedings, funerals, or relocation. A joint statement from the Health Ministry and Prime Minister’s Office, obtained by Haaretz, said that directors-general of the health and transportation ministries will have the authority to approve exception requests.
“We are ahead of the entire world,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during Sunday’s cabinet meeting. “No nation has done what we are about to do – we are hermetically sealing the country.”
Following cabinet approval, the proposal must also be approved by the Knesset’s Economic Affairs Committee and Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.
The approval comes soon after preliminary data suggested the United Kingdom variant of the coronavirus may be more deadly, and three new studies proposed the coronavirus vaccines may prove less effective against the South African variant. However, the United States remains optimistic of the vaccines’ effectiveness.
“We’re paying very close attention to [the U.K. and South African variants], there are alternative plans if we ever have to modify the vaccines,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said from the White House on Thursday. “Right now, from the reports we have, as of today, it appears that the vaccines will still be effective against them.”
As of Sunday afternoon, Israel reported over 590,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 4,300 deaths attributed to the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
