In recent news, the Prime Minister of the State of Israel, Naftali Bennett, as well as the health minister, Nitzan Horowitz, have decided that they are going to push the coronavirus cabinet to reimplement the green pass system. The two want this system to be especially applicable on all gatherings that consist of more than 100 participants. This was announced by the health minister on Monday, shortly after he had a meeting with Chili Tropper, the culture and sport Minister, and Orna Barbivay, the economy minister.
Up until the end of the month of May, a green pass was awarded to all those individuals who had been fully vaccinated, held a negative coronavirus test taken in the last 72 hours, and recovered from the deadly disease. This will grant the holders access to several activities and venues, such as gyms, indoor restaurants, as well as performances.
The Health Ministry, in the previous week, had advised that the system of large gatherings should be re-adopted. However, the cabinet had turned the idea down. From Wednesday onwards, the government and relevant authorities are all set to implement the new ‘Happy Badge’ system, which will come into effect for indoor events and weddings. It will require the attendees to present proof of a negative test, vaccination certificate, or recovery certificate, to be allowed in.
On the other hand, with the rising number of infections in the country, Horowitz and Bennett agreed with an assessment made by health experts, which stated that this move would not be enough to curb the outbreak.
The health minister made it clear that as of now, the government does not intend on capping the number of attendees allowed in an event. In the days to come, relevant officials and ministers will have a meeting with representatives of various industries, who are directly impacted by the green pass system.
On the day of the meeting of the government, Bennett opened up by talking about the rising cases in the country. He stated that any decision made by the government will be binding and whoever breaks them will have to pay a specific amount. He went on to instruct the people of the country to wear masks indoors, observe the rules of quarantine, and show respect to the Happy Badge regulations. According to him, all this is necessary and compulsory.
The Prime Minister further revealed that the government is going to be soon presenting a plan to ensure that the country makes it through this crisis in the upcoming weeks. He vowed that the coronavirus situation in Israel would soon be made better, hopefully before the next school year begins.
On Sunday, the country reported around 829 cases of the coronavirus, from a total of 50,000 cases processed. On Friday, more than 1,100 people tested positive for the deadly disease but, the number of tests carried out had been higher. The serious morbidity in Israel is also on the rise but is still limited. On Monday morning, 66 patients had been reported to be in a serious condition, no less than 24 hours earlier.