The Israelis went around barefoot on Sunday after the order to wear masks outdoors was withdrawn in another step toward relative normalcy thanks to the country’s massive vaccination against COVID-19.
With about 81% of citizens or residents over the age of 16 – the age group eligible for the Pfizer / BioNTech (PFE.N), (22UAy.DE) vaccine in Israel – having received both doses, infections and hospitalizations are strong decreased.
But foreigners’ access is still limited, and non-immune Israelis returning from abroad must isolate themselves over concerns that virus variants could challenge the vaccine. read more The Ministry of Health said it has discovered seven cases of a new Indian variant in Israel, the potency of which has been assessed.
“We are currently leading the world in overcoming the coronavirus,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters. “(But) we are still not done with the coronavirus. It could return.”
The police forced outdoor wearing of protective masks, ordered a year ago for non-physical activities, was dropped. But the health ministry said the requirement still applied to indoor public spaces and urged citizens to keep masks handy.
“Breathe freely,” was the headline of the mass circulation daily newspaper Israel Hayom.
“Being without a mask for the first time in a long time feels weird. But it’s a really good weird,” said Amitai Hallgarten, 19, sunbathing in a park. “If I have to be masked inside to end this, I’ll do whatever I can.”
With Israeli preschoolers, elementary school students and high school students already back in class, high school students who were kept at home or attending the class sporadically reverted to pre-pandemic schedules.
Teachers were instructed to keep ventilating classrooms and to maintain a social distance during lessons and breaks. Extracurricular activities such as children’s theaters remain off limits.
“This is still an unvaccinated population (children under 16) that we want to protect,” Health Ministry official Sharon Alroy-Preis told Israeli army radio.
Israel counts East Jerusalem Palestinians among the 9.3 million inhabitants and has administered the vaccines there.
The 5.2 million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Islamic Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip have received limited supplies of vaccines from Israel, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, the global COVAX vaccination division program and China.
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