Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has instructed Transportation Minister Miri Regev (Likud) to formulate a plan to resume flights from Israel to Greece, Cyprus and other countries with low coronavirus infection rates.

Transportation Ministry officials are working on a plan in cooperation with the Health Ministry, the National Security Council (NSC), the Civil Aviation Authority and the National Aviation Network.

The plan calls for passengers arriving from “green countries” – those with low coronavirus infection rates to quarantine for five days upon arrival in Israel.

Those from “red countries” with high virus infection rates will be required to be tested for the coronavirus and receive a negative result before boarding a flight to Israel.

According to a Kan News report last week, Israel is also working on a plan to establish a coronavirus testing station in Ben-Gurion Airport with the capability of carrying out 800 tests per hour with rapid results.

A delegation from Israel’s Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDRD) and other senior officials departed to India on Sunday for a joint cooperative effort with Indian researchers to develop rapid coronavirus tests. Israel also sent supplies to India to assist in its battle against the coronavirus including personal protective equipment for medical staff and ventilators that received special clearance to leave Israel.

משלחת המחקר הישראלית, בהובלת משרד החוץ ומפא"ת במשרד הביטחון, עושה כעת את דרכה מישראל להודו.

המשלחת תעביר להודו סיוע בהתמודדות עם הקורונה ותבצע סדרת ניסויים בטכנולוגיות ישראליות לאבחון מהיר של נגיף הקורונה. pic.twitter.com/6FEaQSYjxG

— משרד החוץ (@IsraelHebrew) July 26, 2020

India and Israel have been cooperating on research in rapid coronavirus tests for several months. One of the reasons that the Israeli researchers traveled to India was the need to carry out trials on the rapid tests on a large number of confirmed coronavirus patients.

The researchers are planning on testing tens of thousands of confirmed virus patients in India, a country with a population of about 1.380 billion people.

The delegation is headed by Israeli Ambassador to India Ron Malka, Military Attaché to India, Col. Asaf Meller, senior Defense Ministry and Health Ministry officials, and top Israeli physicians and researchers.

On the special flight we will bring equipment & devices including 🔝Israeli techs to combat Covid-19 in India. Also, in fruitful cooperation with #AIIMS hospital, we’ll bring AI based remote care systems, and protective & sanitizing equipment for the teams! https://t.co/boqMP94d6U pic.twitter.com/JNxbAev8Qr

— Ron Malka 🇮🇱 (@DrRonMalka) July 24, 2020

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)