Israel allows its citizens to go out again without masks

Due to the rapid advance of vaccination in Israel, the country’s authorities have begun to allow its citizens to be without masks on the street, so that in several cities of the country many people can already be seen walking without this article.

For a year, Israelis could not leave home without a mask. But this Sunday, they stopped having to take it abroad, which could be an indication of a first “victory” against the coronavirus in the country, the AFP agency said.

According to the agency report, at the junction of Jaffa and King Georges streets in Tel Aviv, several passengers get out of the tram coaches and remove their masks when setting foot on the street. Inside the transports its use is obligatory but outside, outdoors, no longer.

For example, AFP cites Eliana Gamulka, a 26-year-old woman who just got off the bus and tied her yellow mask to her right wrist. A simple gesture but one that had been illegal for a year. “On the bus I was wearing the mask, most of the people wore it, and then I took it off […] I’m relieved, we can live again.” He is happy that the measure has taken effect two weeks before his wedding. “We can all celebrate without a mask and the photos will be beautiful!”

Although Israel was one of the first countries in the spring of 2020 to impose the sanitary mask in public places, currently, 53% of its population, 9.3 million, has already received two doses of the vaccine from Pfizer / BioNTech.

“The masks are made to protect us from the coronavirus pandemic. But as the experts have concluded that the mask was no longer necessary outdoors, I have decided to lift (the obligation to wear) a mask, ”said the Minister of Health, Yuli Edelstein, in a statement.

“The infection rate is very low in Israel thanks to the success of the vaccination campaign, so it is possible to relax the measures,” he added.

The mask will continue to be mandatory in closed public places, such as shopping centers or also in public transport.

Israel launched a vast vaccination campaign at the end of December following an agreement with the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which quickly gave it millions of doses in exchange for information on the effect of vaccines . The country has databases with the medical history of its entire population.

Israel registered a peak of 10,000 daily infections in mid-January. Currently they are less than 200 and the positive rate in the tests is 0.3%.

The authorities already allowed in March the reopening of restaurants, bars and beaches.

On the other hand, the country announced this week that as of May 23 it will authorize the arrival of tourists.

Israeli authorities almost hermetically closed the borders to leisure travelers after the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.