Israel moves to ban travel to US due to omicron variant concerns
Fox News
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday announced that his cabinet approved a travel ban to the U.S. due to rising concerns about the spread of the COVID-19 omicron variant.
The cabinet approved the plan to put the U.S. on Tel Aviv's travel red list, which means residents can only travel there with special permission. The move is seen as a dramatic step due to the close ties between both countries and the number of dual nationals, the AFP reported.
The move effectively bars Israelis from visiting the U.S. Bennett has warned about new infections in Israel. Haaretz, the newspaper, reported that 873 people in the country of 9.2 million have been diagnosed with the virus on Friday alone and 81 people were hospitalized, including 41 who required ventilators.