Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended Wednesday morning an international summit on the topic of lifting coronavirus restrictions in order to boost the economy with an emphasis on tourism.
In addition to Netanyahu, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern attended the summit.According to the leaders, the public's lack of motivation and unwillingness to wear fave masks in public spaces, deciding to issue a joint call on the public to adhere to state regulations."People think it is over," Netanyahu continued, "but I tell them it is not over. I will tell you, as you should tell [your citizens], that if [the outbreak] grows again, we will go back." He told Kurtz he was curious about the conditions in Austria, "because you locked your state down after us and re-opened it before us."
The leaders discussed reopening airports, with the majority saying they prefer to re-launch local flights first, before reopening international airports."I am sure you do not want us to export cases to you, and likewise, we do not want import cases back to Israel. I have no specific suggestion so as how to achieve this besides the fact we began examining this issue two days ago at our airports," Netanyahu said.
The leaders also said that re-opening schools would not lead to a second outbreak of the virus, based on the case in their countries.
"We are re-opening our economy," Netanyahu said at the meeting. "The most important thing we opened are schools and kindergartens. This is what I am most interested to hear about from you, as the question that remains is whether it is a medium for the spreading of the virus," he added.The leaders said that the most efficient way to prevent the spreading of the pandemic is through digital tools and measures, as well as a mechanism cutting the time period between the tests and their results down to 24 hours.
Netanyahu added that as the airports will inevitably re-open as well, measures will have to be taken in order to avoid quarantining passengers for 14 days upon arrival. "We will inevitably have to take aggressive measures to identify cases on one hand, with [coronavirus] tests before and after flights."