Israel decides to ban passenger flights to curb COVID-19 spread

FILE PHOTO: A worker is seen in a booth of the new COVID-19 checking system at Ben-Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel November 9, 2020. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel on Sunday decided to ban incoming and outgoing passenger flights from Monday at 22:00GMT until the end of January in order to stop the spread of COVID-19 and new coronavirus strains, Israel's Haaretz news website reported.

(Reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Jeffrey Heller)