Hundreds of vaccinated Israelis attend the Tel Aviv concert

Hundreds of people vaccinated against Covid-19 packed a Tel Aviv football stadium on Friday for the first of four concerts organized by the municipality, as Israel eases virus restrictions.

The 500 fans wore masks and sat in the central part of Bloomfield Stadium with 30,000 seats to participate in a performance by the Israeli pop star Ivri Lider.

“This is really cool. I’m so happy, said Reut Gofer when she arrived.

“I hope this is the beginning of a period when we return to our normal lives,” she added.

Israel began easing restrictions in February after a third lock-in and has since gradually opened shopping malls, gyms, swimming pools, hotels and some cultural facilities.

But in most cases, the return to normalcy has been reserved for people who have been fully vaccinated, under a so-called “green mark” scheme.

Israel is among the world leaders in Covid-19 vaccinations per capita.

More than half of the country’s nine million people have already received the two recommended doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech coronavirus vaccine since vaccination began in December.

“Since a majority of the population has already been vaccinated … we can finally open our cultural and leisure activities,” said Eytan Shwartz, a spokesman for Tel Aviv Municipality.

“I hope we will soon be able to fill in (Bloomfield) Stadium,” he added.

Israel has registered more than 796,000 cases of Covid-19, including over 5,800 deaths.

(AFP)