Israel’s COVID-19 czar, Professor Salman Zarka, said on Wednesday that he believes that the directive to wear masks indoors will be lifted this summer.
"This summer we will be without masks," he said in a conversation with health reporters. "We are close to normalization, but it will not end in May or June. As long as the morbidity is 'Omicron-like' and there is a risk to a particular population that has the ability to be protected by a fourth vaccine, one can see something resembling the flu and we can consider eliminating isolation and testing."
At the same time, Zarka said he believes there will be an increase in case following the holiday of Passover. "Despite all our experience, there will be an increase in new cases in April. I am troubled by this increase. There are gatherings involving people who do not meet on a daily basis. That brings about a danger of contagion, and the virus is still here. I am worried about the at-risk population during holidays. We launched an information campaign to encourage the fourth vaccine for at-risk populations. Today we are at about 3,000 vaccines a day, and that is not enough."
"If the Omicron comes back, it will look more like a mild flu than like COVID-19. I think after five waves - each wave had a new variant - we realized that the coronavirus is unstable. If we get an ‘Omicron lite’ - it's going to be the flu, but if it's Delta, we will be unable to say 'get along with it'. I really want it to be called 'flu' one day and for us to get a vaccine once a year, but even if we want that, it's not happening yet. I do not want to resemble China where there is zero morbidity. We are probably not there and do not think about being there, we long more for 'Omicron equals the flu,'" he added.