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Hundreds of people vaccinated against Covid-19 packed a soccer stadium in Tel Aviv on Friday for the first of four concerts hosted by the municipality as Israel relaxes virus restrictions.
The 500 fans wore masks and sat in the central area of the 30,000-seat Bloomfield Stadium to watch a performance by Israeli pop star Ivri Lider.
“This is really cool. I’m so happy,” said Reut Gofer when she arrived at the room.
“I hope this is the beginning of a period of returning to normal life,” she added.
Israel began relaxing restrictions after a third lockdown in February, and has since gradually reopened shopping centers, gyms, swimming pools, hotels and some cultural facilities.
But in most cases, the return to normalcy is reserved for people who have been fully vaccinated, under what is called a “green badge” scheme.
Israel is one of the world leaders in per capita vaccinations against Covid-19.
More than half of the country’s nine million residents have already received the two recommended doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech coronavirus vaccine since the vaccination campaign began in December.
“Since a majority of the population has already been vaccinated … we can finally develop our cultural and leisure activities,” said Eytan Shwartz, a spokesman for the Tel Aviv Municipality.
“I hope we can fill the (Bloomfield) stadium soon,” he added.
Israel has recorded more than 796,000 cases of Covid-19, including more than 5,800 deaths.
(AFP)