Israel Enters Another Lockdown

Israel to enter 3-week lockdown from Friday; schools, malls, hotels to be closed

TOI STAFF

Cabinet ministers on Sunday approved a three-week lockdown, over the upcoming Jewish holidays to contain a resurgent coronavirus outbreak.

The lockdown will take force at 2 p.m. on Friday, hours before the start of Rosh Hashanah.Speaking at a press conference, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that under the restrictions, Israelis will be limited from traveling more than 500 meters from their home except for essential needs like food and medicine. Schools will be closed starting Friday, and businesses and public sector employers will face strict limitations that he did not specify.

Supermarkets, pharmacies and other essential businesses will be allowed to remain open and deliveries will be allowed.

Netanyahu acknowledged the economic pain caused by the lockdown measures, but insisted the economy was doing better than other countries, which he credited to Israel being among the first to reopen its economies in May after the first lockdown.

The premier repeated his analogy that managing the virus was like playing an “accordion,” with the government easing measures when cases go down and tightening them when infections rise, as other countries are doing — though aside from Israel, none has imposed a second full lockdown.

“The medical experts told me to close [the accordion] when the health system raises a red flag,” he said. “They’re warning us about the jump in the number of seriously [sick] patients and from the winter.”

Ticking off the various restrictions, Netanyahu said there was an “outline” to allow prayers over the holidays and that gatherings in closed spaces would be capped at 10 people and those outdoors at 20.

“I know these steps have a high price for all of us and we can’t celebrate [the holidays] with the whole family,” he said.

Edelstein vowed to improve the country’s much maligned contract tracing program for when the lockdown is lifted and said prayers on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur would be “very limited,” without elaborating.

Coronavirus czar Ronni Gamzu said the high rate of positive coronavirus tests showed the virus was spreading widely and said the lockdown was “the lesser of two evils.”