Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz have decided to end the Shin Bet’s (Shabak) tracking of suspected Omicron patients. The decision will take effect at midnight tonight.

A statement from the state said that “at midnight, emergency regulations approved by the government for the use of cellular locations by the General Security Service (Shabak) for locating verified people with the Omicron strain will expire.”

“In accordance with the predefined policy in the Coronavirus Cabinet, according to which the use of Shabak tracking will be done sparingly and reviewed on a daily basis, and in view of the current situation assessment, the Prime Minister and the Health Minister, in consultation with experts in the Health Ministry, it was decided not continue at this stage with the activation of the tracking, which contributed in the last week to the effort of cutting off the chains of infection. The reactivation of the tracking will be examined according to the circumstances of the illness,” the statement said.

Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz wrote on Twitter, “The tracking will stop. I emphasized from the first moment that the use of this tool will be limited and very short – for a few days, to get urgent information to stop the infection of a new and unknown variant. And that’s exactly what we did. Now we asre stopping it, because in addition to health, we must maintain privacy and human rights, even in an emergency.”

Source: Arutz Sheva