Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri announced that crossings between Israel and Jordan and Egypt are being closed in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Deri said that these border crossings will be closed from Thursday morning at six am until the end of January, barring access into Israel from these crossings.
The coordinator of Israeli government activities also announced that at five pm on Thursday, the Karama crossing will be closed until further notice in coordination with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, as part of efforts aimed at curbing the coronavirus.
He said that travelers will not be allowed to travel through the Allenby Bridge crossing in both directions, except for exceptional humanitarian cases.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier during his visit to a vaccination center in the settlement of Sderot that Israel was the first country globally to close its land and air borders, with aircraft not allowed to land in the country.
He added that all land crossings, including the streets leading to Jordan would be closed in an effort to combat the virus, especially new strains.
The Israeli Ministry of Health confirmed in its latest statistics that positive cases for coronavirus reached 9.6 percent, while about 2,768,202 people received the first dose of the virus vaccines and 1,377, 803 people took the second dose.
