‘The ministers who vote against the measures will be responsible for the outbreak’
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett plans to ask the cabinet to expand the air travel ban list to most countries around the world, including the United States and Canada, to prevent entry of the omicron variant, Channel 12 reported on Friday.
However, Bennett is expected to face opposition from some of his ministers, the report said, noting that Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz was in favor of a more measured plan.
“The ministers who vote against the measures will be responsible for the outbreak. I expect all ministers to understand the gravity of the situation and not to give in to pressure from the population or from lobbyists,” Bennett said at a meeting of his advisers on Friday.
Israel this week added nine countries to the “red” list: the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Norway, Finland and Sweden.
People wishing to travel to these countries must first obtain special permission from a government committee.
The latest daily Covid tally released Friday by the Health Ministry showed 854 new cases detected out of 105,568 total tests administered for a positive test rate of 0.90 percent.
While the daily infection figure is the highest in about two weeks, the number of patients in serious condition continued to decline with 79 severe cases out of which 42 were on ventilators.
The number of patients listed in serious condition has steadily declined since reaching a peak of 739 on September 22.
