Israel to get back to mandate wearing masks indoors

On Friday, the health ministry of Israel again made it mandatory to wear masks in enclosed public places due to a rise in the number of positive cases.

Such an increase in a jolt to the country was considered to be successful in providing vaccination to the people. Nachman Ash, the head of the pandemic response task force in the country told in a public radio that such a requirement arose after four days when more than 100 new cases were registered on Thursday.

Ash stated, “We are seeing a doubling every few days. Another thing that’s worrying is that the infections are spreading. If we had two cities where most of the infections were, we have more cities where the numbers are rising and communities where the cases are going up.”

Ash opined that the increase in the number of cases is due to the highly contagious Delta variant that is noted in India.

The re-imposition of mask is a great setback for Israel, after it was completely not required from June 15, after successfully inoculating the people.

After getting millions of doses, nearly 5.2 million people completed both the doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Ash stated that in spite of the increase in the number of cases, there was hardly any rise in the need of hospitalization or in the number of fatalities.

Ash continued, “Its clear it’s a factor of time, that not enough time has passed. But we hope the vaccines will protect us from a rise in hospitalization and difficult cases.”

The health ministry requested all the people to wear masks in crowded public places and at pride events also that is to take place at the weekend.

The pride march that is to commence on Friday afternoon in Tel Aviv expects to welcome 10 thousand people. This is the first occurrence of the event after the outbreak of the pandemic.

Israel was an inspiration in regard to the vaccination drive. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister received millions of vaccines from Pfizer in return of disclosing health data on vaccines’ impact.

In February, while celebrating the fresh batch of vaccines, Netanyahu said, “We have made Israel a global model for success.”

The dip in the number of cases helped the people to get back to their normal lives, but couldn’t save Netanyahu’s job. Naftali Bennett, a friend turned enemy, succeeded him.

On Tuesday, Bennett raised concern over a ‘new outbreak’.

In order to curb the spread, he urged the people to cancel their plans regarding travel. He added, “Whoever doesn’t have to fly abroad, please don’t.”

Israel is condemned for not vaccinating the Palestinians residing in the West Bank or in the Gaza Strip. However, there is no such restriction on the people living in the West Bank settlements.