INTERNATIONAL: Contestants wearing face masks in the Miss Universe beauty pageant, which will take place in Israel next month, were taken on a tour of Jerusalem's Old City walls on Tuesday. The ladies have posed for pictures with the Holy city in the background.

Israel has revealed it would host the Miss Universe beauty pageant in the Red Sea resort of Eilat on 12 December despite imposing travel restrictions to try to stave off the Omicron coronavirus variant.

Israel also made a recent announcement that it would ban foreigners from entering the country, lengthen quarantines for citizens and residents returning from abroad and reinstate controversial cellphone surveillance designed to track infections. However, Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov says that Miss Universe participants would be granted waivers while possibly undergoing PCR testing every 48 hours and other precautionary measures.

One contestant was diagnosed with COVID-19, the pageant’s organizer has confirmed. Senior health ministry official Sharon Alroy-Preis says Israel was putting together a safety plan for Miss Universe and could limit admission to the pageant from countries deemed to be high-risk.

Miss Universe 2021 will be the 70th Miss Universe pageant. Andrea Meza of Mexico will crown her successor at the end of the event. The competition will feature the return of Steve Harvey as host and Fox as the official broadcaster of the show after being absent due the uncertainties related to the previous edition.