The World Health Organization has repealed the global state of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic on Friday. Although in practice, normal routine returned to Israel some time ago and there is no real manifestation of a state of emergency or the coronavirus law, the WHO’s announcement may still have effects on Israel’s COVID-19 policy.
On February 14, at the request of the Health Ministry, the Knesset Health Committee approved a 3-month extension of mandatory quarantine for coronavirus patients. The extension is due to expire on May 15, and the WHO’s announcement will likely lead the authorities not to renew it, thus ending the quarantine requirement in Israel.
At the end of January, the coronavirus law was extended until February 15, 2024 – but in a softened version that saw most of the original provisions canceled. Under the law, should the government be convinced that there is a real risk of the virus spreading and real harm to public health, the police can announce a “special health situation.” The government can also announce a state of emergency if the health minister is convinced that there is a significant rise in contagion, or that there is real risk of a broad spread of the virus and grave harm to public health, requiring special measures.
The law limits the duration of the state of emergency to 45 days, and the duration of the special health situation to 90 days. Both cases require the opinion of the health minister and a professional opinion from the Health Ministry before they are declared. Under the law, if a state of emergency is declared, the government would be able to order lockdowns, shift the education system to remote learning and restrict people from leaving the country. Notably, participation in prayer has been exempted from the law, so people would be able to leave the house for group prayer.
The explanatory notes to the law state that “According to the estimate of professionals at the Health Ministry, due to the uncertainty among health care systems around the world, and concern of the possibility of a sharp change in the epidemiological situation, a cautious and even more vigilant tracking of recent developments in illness figures in China, the legal infrastructure allowing the authorities to take action under law remains indispensable.”
According to Prof. Hagai Levine, the chairman of the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians, “When Israel extended the effect of the coronavirus law, against the recommendation of the public health physicians, including the option of declaring a state of emergency, they explained it by the fact that the WHO’s declaration had yet to be repealed.”
"There are still special measures for the coronavirus in Israel, such as the requirement for patients to be quarantined, which do not exist for other diseases. Now that the World Health Organization’s position has changed, this calls for an updated discussion at the Health Ministry and deliberations on repealing the guidelines, and not extending the coronavirus law,” Prof. Levine added.
He believes that the WHO was right to repeal the global state of emergency for the coronavirus. “Sadly, while other countries have turned COVID-19 into an opportunity, in Israel we have regressed in terms of public health infrastructure. We must not misinterpret the situation and harm the vital public health infrastructure by drying out the services,” Levine said.
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May 07, 2023 at 06:11AM
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WHO Repeals COVID-19 State of Emergency; Israel Likely to Follow - Israel News - Haaretz
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