Israeli health officials are considering reimplementing some coronavirus restrictions amid new coronavirus outbreaks around the country which are believed to be caused by the Indian variant. Some of the outbreaks in schools have been linked to Israelis who have returned from abroad, even those who have been vaccinated, and some of the Israelis who caught the new variant at home have been vaccinated. The Health Ministry on Sunday reinstated the requirement to wear masks in schools where outbreaks occurred, less than a week after the mask mandate was lifted. Itai Weisberg, the head of the Binyamina-Givat Ada local council, where one of the outbreaks occurred, told Reshet Bet on Monday morning that 76 residents have tested positive for the coronavirus. He added that if anything good comes out of the outbreak it will be that parents will now have their children aged 12-15 vaccinated since most of the children who tested positive fell into that age group. Binyamina is now the first locale in the country to be designated as a “yellow zone” since early May. The new outbreaks have caused Israel’s positivity rate to rise from a monthly average of 0.1% to 0.3% on Shabbos, and 0.6% on Monday, according to Health Ministry data.` Coronavirus czar Prof. Nachman Ash on Monday instructed the Home Front Command to prepare for the opening of 20 drive-in coronavirus testing centers across Israel by Tuesday. In an interview with Radio 103FM on Monday morning, Ash also called on parents to vaccinate their children aged 12-15 and recommended that Israelis with children should cancel non-essential trips abroad. Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Chezy Levy said on Sunday that in the wake of the outbreaks the ministry will officially recommend that all teenagers aged 12 -15 be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Until now, the ministry has only recommended that at risk-teenagers in that age group be vaccinated. Levy told Kan News that the ministry is also considering implementing additional restrictions and also repeated the ministry’s recommendation that those at high-risk should continue to wear face masks indoors. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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