Israel resumes indoor mask requirement amid virus spike

TEL AVIV: The Israeli health ministry reimposed a

requirement

on Friday for masks to be worn in enclosed public places following a surge in new cases since it was dropped 10 days ago.


The head of

Israel

's pandemic response taskforce, Nachman

Ash

, told public radio the requirement came after four days of more than 100 new cases a day, in a country which prides itself on one of the world's most successful vaccine rollouts.

Ash said the rise in cases was likely due to the highly contagious

Delta

variant first seen in India.