Coronavirus is rearing its head again with the Delta variant being blamed for an increase in cases first in a few isolated outbreaks and now becoming more widespread. In response, police are significantly enhancing enforcement of quarantine restrictions, making many more checks on homes of those ordered to self-isolate, and also extending the contracts of staff who were taken on for a limited period in order to deal with coronavirus-related issues.
According to Yediot Aharonot, on Wednesday, 270 temporarily employed police officers had their contracts extended. They were first recruited a year ago, in order to assist with the government’s battle against Covid-19, and would have ended their term of employment around now if the government’s assessment of the situation had not changed.
The police have taken this unusual step due to their intention to enforce quarantine regulations far more tightly, as they apply to those who have come into contact with confirmed coronavirus carriers, and also, more specifically, to those who have recently returned from abroad. There are currently around 30,000 people who are legally required to be in isolation, of whom around 12,000 have recently returned to the country. Around half of all those required to be in quarantine are children.
The head of the Police Investigations Department, deputy superintendent Ziv Sagiv, stated on Wednesday that police make visits to around 4,000 homes every day in order to verify that those required to self-isolate are actually present at the addresses they have supplied to the authorities. Yesterday alone, more than 10 people were found to be in violation of quarantine rules; each of them was issued a fine of NIS 5,000. In addition, checks on passports at Ben Gurion airport turned up a 72-year-old man who had been planning to fly abroad when he was supposed to be in home isolation.
From yesterday (Wednesday), fines are also being imposed on the parents of children under the age of 12 who are found to have violated quarantine rules. “Police are currently mustering all their forces in this campaign,” Sagiv said. “Our battle against the spread of the coronavirus is now focused primarily on enforcement of isolation requirements for Israelis returning from abroad – that is, those returning from ‘red’ countries [where the rate of contagion is high], or those who have neither been vaccinated nor confirmed to have immunity to the virus.”
Also yesterday, data showed that in the past year, police opened 500 criminal investigations into people suspected of spreading the virus, even though a government decision recently converted all such indictments into fines of NIS 5,000.