Ben Gurion Airport
Ben Gurion AirportFlash 90

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Saturday night is expected to demand the closure of Ben Gurion International Airport.

Netanyahu has called a meeting for Saturday night to discuss the spread of infection into Israel through arrivals at Ben Gurion Airport.

The airport is preparing to close within 24 to 48 hours.

According to Meir Marciano of Channel 13, Israel's Health Ministry is expected to request that those returning from outside of Israel be subjected to digital tracking, a process that was pronounced illegal in an earlier court case.

During the Saturday evening discussion, it was requested that Israel's skies be reopened only after 5 million Israelis have received the vaccine. However, the Ministry understands that it will take approximately 6 weeks to reach that number, and keeping the skies closed harms the economy. Therefore, the Ministry has requested to renew electronic tracking of those arriving in Israel.

On Friday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that the British mutation, brought into Israel by travelers, may be both more deadly and more transmissible than the original coronavirus.

Last week, it was reported that 20% of those diagnosed with coronavirus were infected by the British mutation. At the same time, 20 cases of the new South African mutation have been confirmed.