Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday convened a debate with Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, Public Security Minister Omer Barlev, Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, and professional staff, on the issue of increased enforcement of the coronavirus directives.
Following the Corona Cabinet decision that the public security ministry would coordinate all the enforcement aspects, the ministry presented to the prime minister an integrated plan for the national effort to enforce the coronavirus regulations. The plan combines technological means and enforcement action on the ground that will be carried out by Israel Police officers and municipal inspectors.
Following are the prime minister’s directives:
1. The filing of criminal indictments against verified coronavirus patients who knowingly violate quarantine and endanger public health, dealing with them to the fullest extent of the law.
2. Defining events and celebrations, with emphasis on weddings, as a top enforcement mission, in light of the potential for infections at such events.
3. Technological tools to enforce quarantine – the prime minister directed the attorney general and the public security ministry to arrange the legal aspects of utilizing technological enforcement means including the Haskamon tracking system.
4. Enforcement procedures will be streamlined, with emphasis on cutting down the time between imposing fines on violators and their implementation. The public security ministry will carry out staff work on the issue.
Prime Minister Bennett said in a statement: “Our goal is to determine logical directives, alongside aggressive and efficient enforcement against violators. Whoever violates the directives is endangering his health and the other citizens of Israel. We will not allow this. The Delta mutation is leaping forward around the world. Implementing the directives on the ground is a critical component in managing the pandemic to defeat the mutation.”
There are 430 new verified Corona patients, out of 29,475 who were tested for the virus on Saturday. As of Sunday morning, Israeli hospitals are caring for 63 patients in serious condition, 16 of whom require respirators. A total of 6,448 have died from the Corona since the outbreak of the pandemic. 5,742,289 have received their first dose of the vaccine, 5,225,831 the second.