Israeli public health officials have said that by next week, there will be no more destinations on the country's red list for travel.

Under the current restrictions, leaving Israel for a red-list country is banned for all Israeli citizens and visitors from those countries have to seek special permission to be allowed into Israel.

Currently the USA, UK and UAE are all on the red list, as well as several African countries. The UK was added to the red list on December 13th, disappointing many who

Ilana Gens, an official from the Israeli Ministry of Health said in an appearance to a Knesset committee: “We estimate that next week the red country list will be empty."

She added that the criteria that Israel was using to determine travel status including the level of covid morbidity compared to Israel, adding that compared to before the holidays, “there is less epidemiological justification in restrictions."

The Israeli Ministry of Health has recently begun vaccinating people with weakened immune systems and those over 60 after a group of health experts recommended an additional vaccine dose for those most at risk from serious illness from covid. 

The country reported over 10,000 cases on Monday, an increase of 4,000 from the previous day and close to its daily record for cases since the pandemic begun. However, hospital admissions have increased more slowly than in previous waves, mirroring what has been seen in larger countries like the UK and USA.