British cabinet minister Michael Gove has been in Israel to study the implementation of Israel's 'green passport' app for people who have received two Covid-19 vaccinations, which he is eager to introduce in the UK. He has also discussed the possibility of reciprocal arrangements for allowing vaccinated Israeli and UK citizens to visit each other's countries.
Gove, who is Minister of the Cabinet Office, was accompanied by England's Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam, and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Health Yuli Edelstein and Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabi Ashkenazi. They also toured Israel's testing facilities at Ben Gurion airport.
Israel has vaccinated 5.36 million of its population of 9.3 million with at least one vaccine dose and nearly 5 million with two jabs, the highest proportion of any country in the world. The UK, which has vaccinated 33 million people and given a second jab to over 10 million, has also operated one of the world's most successful vaccine rollouts, so a reciprocal tourist arrangement for vaccinated travelers - a green travel corridor - would be a natural fit. Both countries currently have low infection rates.
Israel is set to reopen its borders to foreign tourists on May 23 after a 15 month closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first stage only tour groups with vaccinated individuals will be allowed in and they will be required to land, with a negative Covid test from the previous 72 hours, and then undergo a serology test to prove that they have adequate levels of antibodies.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 21, 2021
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