Jerusalem, Jul 27 (IANS): Israel plans to gradually resume international flights following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's approval for a plan to do so, Transport Minister Miri Regev announced.

"We will do this responsibly, in full coordination, with the approval of the Ministry of Health and the National Security Council, and subject to the morbidity data," Xinhua news agency quoted Regev as saying in a statement on Sunday night.

According to the plan, passengers arriving from countries defined as "green" with low COVID-19 morbidity rate will only be quarantined for five days instead of the current 14 days.

Passengers arriving from "red" countries with a high morbidity rate will be required to conduct a coronavirus test before boarding a flight to Israel.

In June, Netanyahu estimated that the reopening of Israeli skies to flights would be on August 1.

However, the number of new daily coronavirus cases has since jumped from a few dozen to more than 2,000, which has delayed the plan.

On July 20, Israel extended flight restrictions until at least September 1.

The restrictions ban the entry of foreigners into Israel, excluding exceptional cases approved by the Population and Immigration Authority under the 14-day quarantine obligation.