Israeli officials on Wednesday decided to postpone the entry of international tourists from countries with low coronavirus rates for at least a month over the recent surge of COVID-19 in Israel.
The country was set to begin reopening to individual foreign tourists on July 1, based on the Health Ministry's outline, but two coronavirus outbreaks in schools in Binyamina and Modi'in have led to the daily number of COVID cases spike to the highest since April.
At a meeting held Wednesday afternoon between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, as well as other senior members of the health system, it was decided to postpone the entry of tourists until August 1.
Earlier, the Education Ministry released the latest infection data within the education system, which showed that 253 students and 25 teachers are currently ill with coronavirus.
Of that number, 37 students and two teachers have tested positive for the pathogen over the past 24 hours alone.
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Kramim school in Binyamina where a coronavirus outbreak was detected
(Photo: Elad Gershgoren)
In addition, 6,040 students and 110 teachers are currently in self-isolation, of whom 1,419 have been added to that tally over the past day alone.
In Binyamina, which on Wednesday was reclassified as "orange" - indicating a high coronavirus rate, 120 people are currently sick with the virus, of whom 15 are fully vaccinated.