Last night (Monday), Prime Minister Naftali Bennett consulted senior officials from the Ministry of Health and government ministers on how to deal with the spread of the Omicron strain. The meeting ended without any clear conclusions and is set to continue today.
Before the meeting, Prime Minister Bennett stated: "If today there are a thousand verified and it doubles every two days, as it will do due to the high infection rate of the new strain, then in another twenty days we soon will be faced with a million new cases a day," reported Channel 12 News.
Bennett proposed different options for tightening restrictions amid the continued spread of the strain, including restricting gatherings, expanding the Green Pass and applying it to the trade industries as well, and halting funding of antigen tests for children.
Ministry of Health officials sought to expand the gathering limit. Among other things, to limit gatherings of up to 20 unvaccinated indoors and up to 50 in open space. The Ministry of Health also sought to restrict gatherings of those vaccinated, up to 300 indoors and up to 1,000 out in the open.
The Ministry of Finance and other ministers objected to the move, saying there are no benefits to these restrictions.
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- Bennett proposes denying entry to classes for unvaccinated kids
- Data shows Moderna booster shot works against omicron