Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz came to an agreement on the issue of tightening up the nation’s current, so-called “lockdown” before the start of Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting.
If approved – and it is expected the government ministers will indeed back the proposal this time around – the lockdown is expected to last from 10 days to two weeks.
“We see the coronavirus running amok around the world. The British mutation is out of control. Britain is now under full lockdown after a massive mortality rate. Unfortunately, the new coronavirus mutation is also leaping forward with us, but not at the same pace,” Netanyahu said in his remarks.
“The hospitals are warning us that we are entering the most dangerous wave since the outbreak of the pandemic. The Health Ministry and the experts are warning us that we are in a state of emergency and that if we do not act immediately we will lose many hundreds of Israelis – and even more – who will die.”
The proposed third lockdown will include the shutdown of the entire education system, with the sole exception of the special education system, and the shutdown of the entire commercial sector, with only essential businesses allowed to operate, such as pharmacies, supermarkets and sites related to medical needs.
Israelis will be permitted to leave their homes only to attend to essential needs (to obtain food, medical care), and only in their local area. They will be able to walk outside, and to drive for necessities only up to one kilometer’s distance from their residence.
Citizens are prohibited from going to, or staying at, anyone else’s home. The ban on gathering will be further tightened: five within an enclosed space, and a maximum of 10 in an open space.
The number of public bus lines will be reduced by 50 percent. And the unkindest cut of all, the final straw: restaurant takeaway will now be prohibited as well.
The Health Ministry has been calling for a complete lockdown in the face of a skyrocketing rise in the number of cases of the novel coronavirus diagnosed each day – including the nearly nine thousand new cases that came back with positive results out of 110,813 tests conducted yesterday alone.
The Health Ministry reported Tuesday morning that there were 55,312 active cases of the virus in Israel, with 8,308 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed Monday – the highest daily increase since September 30.
The news comes despite the fact that up to this point, 1.37 million Israelis have received their first jab of the coronavirus vaccine — at least 11 percent of the population — the first country in the world to protect so much of its population against the deadly virus.
Nevertheless, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Israel has now reached 450,116 since the pandemic began and it is just as important, or perhaps even more so, that 14 Israelis lost their lives to the virus on Monday alone, bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 3,445.
At the start of the coronavirus cabinet meeting, both Netanyahu and Gantz pointed to the B.1.1.7 British variant of COVID-19 as the likely culprit behind the huge surge in cases of the virus in Israel, Hebrew-language media reported.
So far, 189 cases of the mutation, tracked back to just 30 individuals, have been identified in Israel, according to Coronavirus Commissioner Nachman Ash, who told the cabinet that health officials believe it is spreading “and expected to increase the rate of infection,” according to a report by Channel 13 News.
“We need to impose a full lockdown immediately,” Netanyahu said. “I have no doubt that the Cabinet will approve this and that the Knesset needs to pass it immediately.
“Every hour that we delay, the disease spreads even quicker and it is exacting a heavy price. Therefore, we need here not only the cooperation of the Cabinet ministers, and we have it, we need the cooperation of the citizens of Israel and I am certain that we have that also.
We need the Knesset to pass this without delay, immediately. This is the saving of lives, nothing less.
“I call on all citizens of Israel: Let us make a final effort – together. We will make a tightened and immediate lockdown together with the continuation of the huge vaccines operation,” Netanyahu urged.