10% of passengers on a flight from Miami to Israel tested positive for COVID-19

On Dec 20, 17 cases were detected on the plane, according to both the Israeli news site Haaretz and The Washington Post.

It was despite rules requiring people to test negative via either PCR or antigen tests before flying.

The news came as Israeli officials mulled stronger controls on international travel, which were passed later on Monday. They ban outbound travel to ten nations including the US and Canada.

Inbound travel was already banned for non-Israelis, other than individual exceptions made by the government.

It is not clear exactly who was on the Miami flight.

The Israeli news site Haaretz on Sunday noted that Miami hosted the Israeli-American Council’s summit earlier in December. It reported that some attendees on prior flights were able to fly back and only later tested positive for COVID-19.

Israel tightened its restrictions in response to the rapid growth of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

A spokesperson for Israel’s health ministry said that of the 17 positive cases on a single flight, some have been verified to be Omicron cases and others “are in high suspicion” to be Omicron, Haaretz reported. businessinsider.com