Omicron variant: Israel may become first country to ban entry of all foreigners

If Israel's plan gets a nod from its government, it may become the first country to ban entry of all foreigners into the country in light of spread of Omicron variant of coronavirus. Israel also said that it would use counter-terrorism phone-tracking technology in order to contain the spread of the Omicron variant.

Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that the ban would last 14 days of approval by the government. Officials are hoping for more information on Omicron variant to trickle in during this period.

Omicron variant, a new variant of Covid-19, was first detected in Sourth Africa and has been dubbed a 'variant of concern' by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

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Israelis entering the country, including those who are vaccinated, will be required to quarantine, Bennett said. The ban will come into effect at midnight between Sunday and Monday (November 29). A travel ban on foreigners coming from most African states was imposed on Friday (November 26).

The Shin Bet counter-terrorism agency's phone-tracking technology will be used to locate carriers of the new variant in order to curb its transmission to others, Bennett said.

Israel will host the Miss Universe beauty pageant on Dec 12 despite imposing travel restrictions, Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov said on Sunday.

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He said participants in the contest, to be held in the Red Sea resort of Eilat, will be granted waivers from the curbs while possibly being subject to PCR testing every 48 hours and other precautionary measures.

Israel has so far confirmed one case of Omicron, with seven suspected cases. The Health Ministry has not said whether the confirmed case was vaccinated. Three of the seven suspected cases were fully vaccinated, the ministry said on Saturday, and three had not returned from travel abroad recently.

Around 57% of Israel's 9.4 million population is fully vaccinated, according to the Health Ministry, which means they have either received a third shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine or it has not yet been five months since they received their second dose. Israel has recorded 1.3 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 8,000 fatalities since the pandemic began.

(With inputs from agencies)