Some 14.3 percent of returning pilgrims from Uman have tested positive for COVID-19, a spokesperson for Magen David Adom told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
In total, MDA said 2,000 of those returning from the Ukrainian city had tested positive in its rapid testing facilities in Uman itself and in the Kiev airport terminal.
Approximately 25,000 Israelis traveled to Uman for Rosh Hashanah to celebrate the holiday at the graveside of the founder of the Breslov hassidic group, with at least 12,000 expected to return to Israel on Thursday, according to the Population and Immigration Authority.
"אין קורונה, אין שום דבר. רק רבנו מנהיג את העולם": אלפי חסידים שתכננו לחזור לישראל מאומן, הצטופפו בערב החג בעמדות הבדיקה - והדוחק היה רב. כשנפוצו שמועות על מספר גבוה של תוצאות בדיקה חיוביות לנבדקים במד"א פרצה מחאה. הכתבה של @AkivaWeisz שבילה את החג באומן pic.twitter.com/TpVwdvsoyG
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) September 10, 2021
The Population Authority said that those who had tested positive for the coronavirus had been infected in Ukraine, and added that it had received information showing that several dozen infected pilgrims allegedly boarded flights to Israel with fraudulent documentation.
Sixteen of these people were detained upon arrival in Israel by border security personnel of the Population Authority and were transferred to police custody.
The authority said more such individuals were expected to arrive in Israel during the course of Thursday night.
MDA said that it had sent a team of more than a hundred medics and paramedics to Uman at the request of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Health and Foreign ministries, and that it had been working in cooperation with the Ukrainian Red Cross and the Israeli embassy since Wednesday night, immediately following the end of Rosh Hashanah.
Travelers who underwent a rapid test were meant to be provided with a certificate from MDA that they would bring with them on their return flight, the organization said.
Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash told the Post that it is still too early to decide whether or not the Uman outline for safe travel went well this year.
“We are hearing that there are not a small number of infected people, those that tested positive over there, and we expect more people to be diagnosed here, too,” Ash said.
He said the real test is whether everyone who is required to enter isolation will be in isolation and, “of course, anyone who tests positive, must stay in quarantine. This is our test today, tomorrow and in the coming days.”
The director-general called on everyone returning from Ukraine to follow the guidelines.
“We are going to do all we can to enforce the rules, but people also need to adhere to the rules themselves,” he said.
Coronavirus commissioner Prof. Salman Zarka traveled to Uman earlier this week to confirm that the agreed upon outline was followed. In a video shared from the ground, Zarka was asked why he went to the site. He responded: “I will go to every place in which there are Israelis to protect their health.”