Travelers at Ben Gurion Airport, Dec. 22, 2021. (Photo/JTA-Flash90)
Travelers at Ben Gurion Airport, Dec. 22, 2021. (Photo/JTA-Flash90)

Israel to allow unvaccinated tourists to enter beginning March 1

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Israel will allow unvaccinated tourists to enter the country beginning March 1 as the county’s Covid case numbers continue to decline, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz announced Sunday.

Tourists will still need to produce negative PCR tests before and after their flights, while Israelis will only need to take a test upon landing.

The more lax rules mean that children under the age of five who are ineligible to be vaccinated can now enter the country. Only fully vaccinated tourists have been allowed in since January.

The changes came as Israel’s government also ended its Green Pass program, which allowed only those who have been vaccinated or recovered from Covid to enter public venues. The government decided last week not to renew the program when it expires March 1 due to the country’s declining COVID rate.

“This wave is breaking,” Bennett said, according to The Times of Israel. “We are seeing a decline in the number of severely ill.”

Shira Hanau
Shira Hanau

Shira Hanau is a reporter at JTA. She was previously a staff writer at the New York Jewish Week and has written for the Forward, Columbia Journalism Review and the Harvard Divinity Bulletin.

JTA

Content distributed by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency news service.