Starting Thursday, the Purple Ribbon and Green Pass restrictions will be put into effect across Israel.
The decision was reached last Wednesday at a meeting of the coronavirus cabinet after a surge of rising COVID cases among vaccinated and unvaccinated Israelis. Additional criteria regarding wedding halls and garden event venues were included on Sunday.
Additional criteria regarding wedding halls and garden event venues were included on Sunday, which the Health Ministry said would only come into effect next Sunday, August 22, to give the public time to prepare.
The Purple Ribbon guidelines affect the following:
• Shopping malls, commercial centers, shops and service provides are allowed to contain only as many people as permit one person per 7 square meters, and must carry a sign explaining the restrictions.
• Sport and culture events, galleries and conventions, hotels, gyms and studios, prayer halls, as well as festivals, weddings, celebration events, and restaurants are all subject to the Green Pass. The same goes for libraries, museums, universities, and colleges.
• The Green Pass can be presented through the “Traffic Light” app, to prove the visitor has either been vaccinated or recovered from the coronavirus or has a valid negative COVID test.
The restrictions are similar to the ones imposed in the previous coronavirus waves, but with a few key changes. Firstly, PCR tests, which were once freely available for all citizens, will now only be government-funded for 3-12-year-old children, while over 12’s will need to pay to take the test.
Furthermore, rapid antigen testing is now available in Israel but is only valid for 24 hours. PCR tests are valid for 72 hours.
The celebration halls sector suffered a significant blow in the first surges of COVID seen in Israel.
Starting from August 22, weddings and celebrations will be limited to 400 guests indoors and 500 outdoors.
Nonetheless, “the Health Ministry recommends avoiding gatherings at this time, even without specific guidelines,” the statement concluded.
Sunday saw over 500 serious cases of COVID registered in Israel, and over 4,000 new cases overall. Some 5.4% of the tests returned positive, the highest rate since March.