Israel lifts outdoor mask requirement

In closed areas, the obligation to wear a mask stills applies in Israel.

By Aryeh Savir, TPS

Israelis will no longer be required to wear a mask in public as the Coronavirus (COVID-19) stats in the country remained very low and are constantly improving.

The directive, which took effect on Sunday, came after adopting the position of the professionals in the Ministry of Health according to which the low morbidity there is no longer a need for wearing masks in open spaces. However, in a closed area, the obligation to wear a mask stills applies.

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein explained that “the masks are intended to protect us from the coronavirus. After the professionals came to the conclusion that this was no longer needed in the open, I decided to allow the masks to be removed according to their recommendation. For you, the citizens of Israel. I still ask you to be equipped with a mask for the purpose of entering closed buildings. Together we will keep the morbidity low.”

The Health Ministry updated Saturday night that over 5,343,000 Israelis, some 57%, received the first vaccine, and over 4,969,000 received the second dose, 53% of citizens.

The Ministry of Health updated that it documented only 105 new COVID-19 cases over the past day.

Of the 30,574 tests done over the weekend, only 0.4% returned positive.

Only 202 of the patients hospitalized with Corona are in serious condition, with 121 of them are on life support. The numbers here have been steadily dropping.

6,331 Israelis have died of the virus.

Professor Eran Segal, a computational biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science and an expert on COVID-19 in Israel, noted that since the mid-January peak of the third wave of infections in Israel, there have been 98% fewer cases, 93% fewer critically ill, and 87% fewer deaths.

About 85% of Israelis aged 16 years old and above have vaccinated or infected.

“Life is close to pre-Covid. Remaining restrictions can probably be lifted,” he said.