Israel mulls travel ban to US amid concerns over 5th COVID wave as Omicron cases surge

As Israel battles the fifth wave of the COVID-19 and upsurge of the highly transmissible and mutated B.1.1.529 Omicron strain, it is mulling to expand its red list of high-risk destinations that will effectively ban Israelis from visiting, effective Tuesday, December 21. This will include the United States, and several other European countries such as Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Switzerland as well as Canada, and Turkey.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who strongly supports expanding COVID-19 restrictions on international travel and ban on trade and commerce with the nations abroad, is set to move the US to the ‘no-fly’ list over the mounting cases being reported, recently. The Israeli leader will convene a meeting later on Sunday to consider the Health Ministry’s recommendations, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. 

Earlier this week, the country added Ireland, Norway, Spain, Finland, Sweden, France and the United Arab Emirates to the list that also includes the South African nations. This comes as an assessment presented to the Bennett cabinet by the medical experts predicted that the number of Omicron cases in Israel is expected to shoot to 400 to 600 as early as next week. 

Time is 'running out'

Israel Prime Minister, in a state televised address, said that his government was among the first to ground the international air travel with the impacted countries when the Omicron was first detected last month, but that this seems to be now waning as the variant has spread to at least 86 countries. He then stressed that in view of the predictions that the Omicron cases are expected to spike in weeks ahead, his health ministry has made the recommendations to instantly halt travel for the Israeli citizens to the high-risk nations which include the United States. 

Bennett reportedly asserted that the “time we bought is running out” adding that Omicron is a very transmissible variant with cases doubling in a matter of just 2-3 days. “It’s possible to say that the fifth wave in Israel has begun,” the leader said in his televised remarks. He also predicted a massive surge of sicknesses within a few weeks in Israel despite that the country was among the world’s first to have the highest percentage of the population to be fully vaccinated.

As Israel mulls adding the United States to the list of "red" countries, this implies that the citizens can no longer fly into the US or will be allowed at the arrivals except for extremely urgent reasons. The country as of Dec. 19 registered over 134 Omicron cases, while another 307 suspected cases are pending confirmation from the health ministry. Israel was the first country to impose a ban on South Africa on and entry of foreigners from Hong Kong on Nov 25 and instating mandatory 14-day quarantine for overseas travellers.