Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is laying the groundwork for a third nationwide lockdown, following reports of a fast-spreading mutation of the coronavirus in the UK, Denmark, and South Africa.
According to a report by Channel 13 Sunday night, Netanyahu has expressed serious concerns during talks with officials regarding a recently identified mutation of the coronavirus detected in three countries which is said to spread far more quickly than other strains of the coronavirus.
The Prime Minister has said privately that the mutated variant of the virus will require a new nationwide lockdown – Israel’s third since the pandemic began earlier this year.
“This mutation is the second coronavirus, we need a full lockdown,” Netanyahu is quoted as saying.
Netanyahu is looking to convene a meeting of the full government in the coming days in order to deliberate on and ultimately impose a new lockdown.
The report comes hours after Netanyahu pushed to severely restrict air travel into Israel.
"It is necessary to close the sky - the cost is negligible, it is almost zero,” Netanyahu said Sunday morning.
The Coronavirus Cabinet ultimately ruled to bar non-citizens from entering Israel from the three countries where the new coronavirus mutation has been identified: Denmark, South Africa, and the UK.
After the meeting, Netanyahu told reporters that the new mutation forced Israel’s leadership to make a “tough but necessary decision”.
“Yesterday we heard from officials in the World Health Organization about a new mutation of the coronavirus, and we heard also statements from the Prime Minister of Britain Boris Johnson about the spread of the mutated virus in his country.”
“I immediately convened a team of ministers last night to deliberate on the matter, and today convened the Coronavirus Cabinet to make some important decisions. According to the information we have, this mutation spreads much faster than the regular coronavirus, but it isn’t deadlier, and we have nothing showing that the vaccine we have in our possession won’t be effective on [the new strain]. That’s the information we have right now. We are following the issue closely, of course.”
Because of the new mutation, Netanyahu continued Israel “made the tough but necessary decision today to close all air travel from Britain, Denmark and South Africa to Israel. Those are the countries where the mutation has been detected.”