A weekly report submitted by the Ministry of Health to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee shows that from July 1 until today, about 978,000 people have been asked to go into isolation. In the last week alone, 164,655 people have gone into isolation.
The chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, MK Zvi Hauser, this week approached the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Defense and the Coronavirus Cabinet, asking them to examine the possibility of shortening the isolation period by two days after a test on the ninth day of isolation, and provided that test comes back negative.
The chairman of the committee also demanded an examination of the policy of shortening the isolation period in other countries, such as Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic, which bring in citizens who have come into contact with a verified case, be limited to only about 10 days of isolation.
Shortening the isolation period by two days will save an estimated 150 million shekels per month and about 2 billion shekels a year.
"Israel must update its isolation policy as part of preparations for the expected lockdown," said MK Hauser. "Continuing isolation for 14 days undermines public confidence and the Israeli economy. It is impossible to continue to put thousands of people in isolation every day without formulating a comprehensive policy on the matter."