Israel ended its external mask mandate on Sunday, now that nearly 80 percent of its adult population received both doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, the report said.
“It feels strange to be without a mask for the first time for a long time. But it’s pretty weird, ”19-year-old Amitai Hallgarten told Reuters.
“If I need to be masked indoors to finish it, I will do everything I can.”
At the onset of the epidemic last year, Israel required residents to wear face coverings until they were exercising outdoors. But now that nearly 5 million people in Israel have received the two-dose vaccine, health officials have begun to ease the restrictions, Reuters reported.
“The successful vaccine campaign in Israel has led to a very low rate of infection in Israel, and so this is easily possible. [restrictions], “Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said in a statement.
In January, Israel was battling about 10,000 new infections a day, but as vaccination increased, the number rose to nearly 200 daily and hospitalizations and deaths are almost non-existent, France 24 reported.
While the end of masking outside is a positive step toward normalization, the country still needs to self-segregate anyone entering the country, including citizens.
The country’s Ministry of Health noted that there are seven cases of a new Indian version and they are still assessing the impact on transmission.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters, “We are leading the world right now, when it is headed to emerge from the coronovirus.”
“[But] We are still not finished with coronovirus. It can come back. “
Leave a Reply