Miss India, Harnaaz Sandhu, received the winning Miss Universe crown on Monday (December 13) at the 70th Miss Universe beauty pageant in the Israeli port city of Eilat.
Israel had said it would host the contest in the Red Sea resort despite imposing travel restrictions to try to stave off the Omicron coronavirus variant.
In the weeks leading up to the competition, contestants toured various sites in Israel, including Christianity's most sacred church, the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and Judaism's holiest prayer site, the Western Wall.
The Israeli ministry of tourism said that travel restrictions limited the number of media and fans attending the pageant.
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