A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

i24 News – Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz decided Thursday evening to extend the country’s travel restrictions for another 10 days from December 12, to prevent a massive spread of the omicron variant in the territory.

The borders have been closed for nearly two weeks to foreigners.

The Prime Minister’s statement, however, did not mention the reopening of the borders to tourists, but specified that the two men agreed “on the extension of the current restrictions at Ben Gurion Airport.”

All Israelis arriving in the country, including those vaccinated against the coronavirus with all three doses, will be required to take a PCR test at Ben Gurion Airport upon arrival and then immediately go into home quarantine. They will have to take a second test on the third day after their arrival to be able to come out of isolation if it is negative.

People who have not been vaccinated or who have not received the third dose when their second date is more than six months old will have to quarantine themselves for seven days. People returning from countries classified as “red” will be placed in isolation in coronavirus hotels.

To date, around twenty cases of omicron were detected in the country, most of which had returned from abroad and in particular from South Africa.

Roughly a hundred other cases are suspected to be from the omicron variant.

In addition, contaminations are stable and the number of people in serious condition dropped below 100, for the first time since last July.