Thread by @IsraeliPM

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett visited Ben-Gurion International Airport, this evening, toured the testing facility and held an assessment regarding the coronavirus.

Full remarks >>
gov.il/en/departments…

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett:
"The spread of the Delta variant is currently accelerating throughout the world in many countries, with a rate of infection that is much higher than we have known.

It infects at a 50% higher rate and I regret that we are also seeing that it is starting to spread in the State of Israel, including infections in the community in which we cannot always locate the source.

This variant infects much more quickly than the variant we are familiar with, the original coronavirus. Another characteristic of the Delta variant is that it also infects people who have been vaccinated.

We have found that even some people who have been inoculated with the Pfizer vaccine have been infected. We know that the vaccine still has effect, a significant effect, but it is still possible to be vaccinated and infected as well.

In light of this very preliminary data, we have made the initial decision to treat this as a new outbreak, and our goal is to cut it off early and strongly, and be very transparent with you, the Israeli public, because you deserve to know everything.

Because the government is just starting out, and a corona cabinet has yet to be established, we have made several immediate decisions and directives.

We are immediately reestablishing the corona cabinet which will be able to construct an action plan together with Prof. Nachman Ash, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis and Prof. Chezy Levy, the best people who have already been there.

In the coming days we will have a roadmap plan in order not to surprise you, so that you will be able to know – if the outbreak has reached a certain level, what will happen, and you will now be able to prepare with fewer surprises.