In Israel, local corona outbreaks in the cities of Binjamina and Modiin have raised concerns about the spread of the so-called Delta variant of the virus.

On Thursday, Israeli health authorities reported 138 newly infected people within 24 hours.

It is the third consecutive day that more than 100 cases have been reported in Israel.

Previously, the number of new infections in the country every day was often barely more than a dozen.

Currently around 700 of the more than nine million Israelis are acutely ill with Covid-19.

Jochen Stahnke

Political correspondent for Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Jordan based in Tel Aviv.

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    Of the newly infected, 40 to 50 percent were vaccinated, said Chezi Levi, the director general of the Israeli Ministry of Health.

    He called this worrying in front of journalists.

    According to unconfirmed reports, a greater proportion of the new infections can be traced back to the Delta variant first discovered in India.

    National pandemic coordinator Nachman Ash said it was still too early to say whether the outbreak was under control.

    However, it is not a nationwide outbreak.

    Levi had previously said that most of the cases can be traced back to "clear chains of infection, some of which began with travelers returning who have not been in quarantine."

    Returning travelers entered the country without a test

    A large proportion of the more than 120 infected people in the small town of Binjamina in northern Israel are middle school students. The city council attributed the infections to viruses introduced by travelers returning from the country. Another source of infection is the city of Modiin, located between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where a returnee is said to have failed to comply with quarantine regulations. In the past week, according to a TV report, at least 1,000 travelers returning from Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv passed long queues without being tested.

    Just last week, Israel abolished the mask requirement in closed public spaces and previously also abolished the green passport for vaccinated people. Since this week, however, the mask requirement applies again at airports and in health facilities. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced that it would generally reintroduce the mask requirement in closed rooms if the number of new infections every day exceeds 100 for at least a week. The government postponed the opening for vaccinated individual tourists announced for July until August. "Our primary goal is to protect Israeli citizens from the Delta variant that is running amok in the world," said Bennett. He called on the population to refrain from unnecessary travel.

    At the same time, health care officials warned against panic. 0.3 percent of more than 40,000 tests on Wednesday were positive, and the government promoted its vaccination campaign for teenagers between the ages of 12 and 15. In Israel, more than 60 percent of the total population, nearly a third of which are children, are double-vaccinated. The head of the Pfizer branch in Israel, Alon Rappaport, said on Thursday that the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine was also highly effective against the Delta variant and prevented around 90 percent Covid infection.