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ISRAEL LIFTED MANY of its coronavirus restrictions and started reopening its economy on Sunday as the country’s vaccination drive and third nationwide lockdown have started to bring down infections.
Most grade school and high school classes have reopened after a nearly two-month closure, along with museums, libraries, shopping centres and markets.
Some restrictions on the number of people in attendance remain in place.
The entire education system is expected to return to normal operations in early March.
Gyms, pools, cinemas and restaurants are reopening for people who have received two doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
Israel unveiled its plan to allow those who have been vaccinated to attend cultural events, fly abroad and patronise restaurants and health clubs by using a “green badge” app on Saturday ahead of the reopening of the economy.
However, the rollout of the app has been fraught with technical difficulties.
After striking a deal with Pfizer to trade data for doses, Israel’s vaccine campaign became the world’s speediest in the past two months.
Almost half of the country’s population of 9.3 million have received the first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, and nearly three million have had their second vaccination.
Israel has faced international criticism for largely excluding Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from its highly successful vaccination campaign.
The dispute highlights the Palestinians’ reliance on Israel even as they struggle to combat the pandemic on their own.
Last week, Israel facilitated the transfer of the first 2,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip.
The coronavirus is still spreading rapidly in Israel, however, and restrictions on movement and assembly have remained in place since the government imposed a countrywide lockdown in late December.
Israel has recorded at least 743,000 cases of Covid-19 and at least 5,521 deaths since the start of the pandemic last year.
Its three lockdowns have paralysed the economy and driven unemployment to more than 20%.
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Lot of hate on here but I love H&M. Great clothes and not overpriced.
Dunno why anyone buys Penneys ill-fitting, poor quality clothing when for literally a couple of Euro more you can get decent stuff in H&M.
External investment continues – Wetherspoons, Tesco, McDonald’s, Deals, Aldi etc. etc.
Investment is a good thing. Confidence in the market. Jobs created. What every country needs.
It you walk from Stephens Green to Parnell Square – looking at the retail outlets – you could be in Glasgow, Sunderland or Lyon.
Just like the rest, we’ve lost our our identity completely.
Every high st in Europe has the same craps.
only if you define your national identity based on shopping.
I couldn’t care less where these shops come from or what “identity”they’re making , as long as they’re creating stable jobs and lots of them.
99 – ‘national’ wasn’t typed. Keep up.
What’s a high st
I love H&M, they do a good range of affordable clothes. I’ve been getting a lot of good work shirts there ever since I stopped buying charvet.
Dame street will become Dublins new shopping street. Always wondered why Abercrombie and Fitch never bought the building H&M are now in. It was on the market last year for €3 million. A&F pay an annual rent of €900k for the building they’re in.
Always thought that myself, would have had it paid off already!
Hoorah for cheap one wash clothing and the poor sweat shop workers who have to manufacture them.
I dunno. H&M is a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative apparently http://www.ethicaltrade.org/about-eti/our-members
Every clothing company basically uses the same sweatshops, without these clothing would be much more expensive, which most people wouldn’t be prepared to pay. Also no matter how expensive or cheap clothing is, all companies have had their own ethical scandals in this regard, no company is immune due to the fact they often outsource manufacturing to distance themselves if anything does go wrong
Kevin – do you include M&S?
Well a lot of main stream clothing is manufactured in very impoverished parts of the world paying pennys to anyone whos willing to work 12 hour shifts every day but top top brands create all designs from the respected countries they originate from, Italy, France etc. That aside Id happily pay a bit extra if i knew 100% that the poor who slave over our materialistic needs where given the decent wage so they dont have to suffer for our benefit!
Just open in Galway already!
have your say