The Israeli Cabinet voted on Tuesday to extend the country’s current coronavirus lockdown for an additional 10 days, until Jan. 31, and impose tighter restrictions on travelers entering the country, the Prime Minister’s Office and Health Ministry announced in a joint statement.
The extension is scheduled to begin Thursday night, when the current lockdown was slated to end. Israel’s current and third national COVID-19 lockdown began on Dec. 27, but restrictions were tightened on Jan. 8 as morbidity continued to rise, with the Health Ministry confirming the presence in the country of both the U.K. and South African variants of the virus.
As of Wednesday morning, 1,142 new coronavirus cases had been identified in the country, according to the Health Ministry, and a total of 2,261,843 Israelis had received the first dose rose of the vaccine, representing 25.45 percent of the population. A total of 540, 406 had received the second dose, or 6.08 percent of the population, according to the Health Ministry.
The study tested subjects for antibodies a week after they received their second dose. Out of the 102 tests analyzed, researchers saw the level of antibodies jump by factors ranging from six to 20—even higher than the level of antibodies measured in recovered COVID-19 patients who had been seriously ill.
Israel kicked off its vaccination campaign last month with members of the over-60 population receiving the first dose. The age group was lowered to those above the age of 55 and then 50 in the weeks that followed. On Tuesday, the Health Ministry lowered the age to 40.