Prime Minister Bennett Says Israel Can Beat COVID-19 Delta Variant In Five Weeks

PM Israel Naftali Bennett. (Wikimedia Commons/Adi Cohen Zedek)

JAKARTA - Israeli Prime Minister (PM) Naftali Bennett said his country could defeat the Delta variant of the COVID-19 outbreak within five weeks, without the need for a new lockdown.

PM Bennett said this could be achieved with public cooperation. This was conveyed by him, while giving a press statement with the Minister of Health Nitzan Horowitz, Wednesday, July 14 local time.

"The Delta variant is flooding the world", said Bennett, calling on Israel to take the situation seriously, citing The Jerusalem Post.

PM Bennett stressed that the government is committed to protecting public health with minimal disruption to daily life. However, to avoid strict restrictions, everyone needs to show personal responsibility, get vaccinated, wear masks indoors, and maintain social distancing practices, such as avoiding shaking hands.

"Perhaps in the near future people who can be vaccinated and choose not to be vaccinated, will not be able to access certain places without a negative corona test result", he explained.

On that occasion PM Bennett also asked Israeli citizens not to fly abroad, warning that countries that originally had low morbidity, will soon feel the impact of the new variant. In addition, he announced mandatory enforcement of masks and quarantine requirements would be dramatically increased.

Meanwhile, Minister Horowitz said the Ministry of Health was working to make rapid corona tests widely available at low prices. Rapid tests, also known as antigen tests, are considered slightly less accurate than PCR tests, but offer very fast results and are easier to perform. In addition, the government is trying to allow the private sector to carry out corona tests.

On Tuesday evening, Israel's Cabinet decided to shorten the isolation period from a minimum of 10 days to a minimum of seven days with two negative PCR tests, to encourage the public to comply with the rules. In addition, responsibility for the enforcement of coronavirus regulations was shifted to the Ministry of Public Security.

For information, as of Thursday, July 15, Israel recorded a total of 848.322 cases of COVID-19 infection, with 6.441 people dead and 836.661 patients declared cured, citing Worldometers.