Israel will expand Covid-19 vaccinations to include all citizens over the age of 16, officials said on Wednesday as cases and deaths surged again, setting back a predicted turnaround.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had hoped that Israel's fast vaccination drive, twinned with a third national lockdown now in its sixth week, would enable a reopening of the economy this month.
He is up for reelection on March 23.Also Read | The Finance Commission doesn’t rock the federal boatBut serious cases and deaths have risen sharply, attributed mainly to highly communicable foreign virus variants.
That has offset gains from the vaccines. The lockdown, meanwhile, has been widely violated and challenged in the Cabinet.Health Ministry figures show that.