Israel has placed a travel ban on African states, following reported cases of the new coronavirus variant was detected in South Africa. North African countries were, however, exempted.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett widened the initial ban announced on Thursday on the entry of foreigners from seven African countries. Travelling to these countries have also been forbidden.

“All African countries… with the exception of North Africa are red-listed, and all Israelis returning from these countries must adhere to a scrupulous quarantine,” Mr Bennett said.

Under the wider travel ban, all African nations, except those in North Africa, have been placed on Israel’s “red list” of high-risk countries, in addition to South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and Eswatini. 

The three identified cases have been placed in isolation, according to the Israeli health ministry on Friday. In a statement, the ministry noted that all three travellers had been vaccinated but that it is currently looking into their exact vaccination status. One infected person was identified as an Israeli who had returned from Malawi.

The Times of Israel reports that the government’s coronavirus cabinet will hold an emergency meeting on Saturday evening to discuss possible new restrictions, including in the education system where health officials fear the outbreak could be most prominent.

Mr Bennett stated that an order for 10 million PCR test kits designed to better detect the variant had been placed and that sewage would be sampled across the country to detect if the new strain is wide spread. 

In light of the new developments, all travellers who had been in an African country in the past week will be required to take a PCR test and enter into quarantine until the results are received.

The government has asked the Israel Defense Forces’ Home Front Command to locate all those who arrived from African countries in the past week, and to instruct them to immediately self-isolate.