Israel is poised to fully end its emergency mask mandate, the country’s health minister said Sunday, announcing plans for the termination of the requirement to wear face masks indoors.

Speaking at an award ceremony for healthcare providers in Jerusalem Sunday afternoon, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) announced that the minister plans to ask the government to nullify the indoor face mask mandate next week.

If COVID infection rates remain low, Edelstein said, the mask mandate will be lifted starting next Tuesday. Thus far, no new COVID cases have been reported in Israel Sunday, with just four new cases being detected across Israel Saturday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the event that Israel was ‘victorious’ over the coronavirus pandemic, and said that the mask mandate would be lifted in the near future.

“I look out and see this gathering and say: this is what victory looks like. Hundreds of Israelis sitting together, being happy together, smiling together. We still have masks, but as I said in talks with the Health Minister, it is just a matter of a little time before we get rid of this.”

Edelstein provided a date for the end of the mask mandate, saying that unless there is a sudden surge in case numbers, the requirement to wear masks indoors will end on June 15th.

“After deliberations we held with [Health Ministry Director General] Hezy Levy and other experts, we reached the conclusion that if there is no worsening in the indicators, on the 15th of June we will ask to end the requirement to wear masks.”

Source: Arutz Sheva