Israel reimposes indoor mask requirement amid COVID spike

Israel has told its citizens they must again wear masks indoors amid a sustained surge in coronavirus infections.

The Israeli health ministry has asked people to again wear masks in enclosed public places just 10 days after ending its mandatory indoor masking rule, amid a sustained surge in coronavirus infections attributed to the highly contagious Delta variant. The spike in new infections is a blow for a country that has vaccinated some 55 percent of its 9.3 million population with both doses. The head of Israel’s pandemic response task force, Nachman Ash, told public radio the requirement came after four days of more than 100 new cases a day, with 227 cases confirmed on Thursday.