The State of Israel is moving to a seven-day lockdown, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday night, with the instructions to Israelis to stay at home no longer optional, but instead now mandatory.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Health Minister Yaakov Litzman and Health Ministry director-general Moshe Bar Siman Tov all took to the podium this evening at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem to update the nation on the government’s latest guidelines for fighting the COVID-19 coronavirus.
Following is a full transcript of the prime minister’s remarks.
“Citizens of Israel, there is not a moment’s rest in our struggle against the Corona epidemic. As soon as the severity of the danger became clear, we took determined pre-emptive steps. We closed the state’s borders. We enacted extensive mandatory quarantines. We imposed restrictions on gatherings. We reduced workplaces and we used digital means to locate and quarantine Corona patients. These steps slowed the rate of the epidemic’s spread in Israel in comparison to many other countries, but the epidemic continues to spread. It has already claimed thousands of victims around the world. In Israel as well, the number of patients is rising on a daily basis. To my joy, as of this moment nobody has yet died from Corona in Israel. However, to my regret, that is not expected to continue. The doubling of the number of patients every few days is liable to lead to many victims, Heaven forbid.
Difficult times require difficult decisions. The day before yesterday, I asked you to adhere to the directives of the Health Ministry and stay home. This has met with a response but it is simply not enough. Today, I am announcing an additional increase in the war on Corona. This evening, tonight, the Cabinet will approve emergency regulations to restrict movement. Under these restrictions you, citizens of Israel, are required to stay home. It is no longer a request. It is no longer a recommendation. It is a binding directive that will be enforced by the enforcement authorities. I know that this is not easy. I know that it is hard. But I am asking for your cooperation with these regulations. Their goal is to ensure that as few people as possible are infected and that as few people as possible infect.
This will save many lives. It will save from death family members, friends and neighbors. If somebody thinks that I am exaggerating, look at the pictures coming from Spain and Italy. Look at what is happening there. Look at the crews who are no longer dealing with the living; they are loading the dead into special vehicles. This cannot happen here. Everything must be done so that it does not happen here. Therefore, these regulations will take effect tonight immediately after they are approved by the Cabinet. They have legal backing. In the first stage, these regulations will be in effect for seven days. I am asking that people enforce them. First of all by yourselves, I am asking you. Yes, there is the police. There is a requirement. But first I am asking for the internal requirement, the internal recognition that each and every one of you needs to adopt for him/herself.
Everyone will remain at home except for workers whose work is permitted under Finance Ministry directives. This step is unprecedented since the foundation of the state. In effect, there has not been such a thing in the past 100 years.
A democratic state is based, first of all on the partnership between the government and the citizenry, and also on the partnership among citizens. I would like to express my appreciation to you, citizens of Israel, first of all to the medical crews but also to those engaged in disinfecting, the volunteers, the messengers and the cashiers. Even to you, correspondents in the studios, who pass along these directives as a public service. You could keep a little more distance from each other but there has been widespread response among the public to this, and it is important.
I am saying all of this in order to make it clear that we have confidence in you, citizens of Israel. There are certain exceptions to the regulations and we expect you not to abuse them. One can leave one’s home to stock up on food and medicines, for medical treatment and for other exceptions that the Health Ministry Director General will explain to you in a moment. Even if you go out for a short while, do not congregate, do not gather together. Uphold the rules of hygiene and distance, two meters, if not many more. I reiterate, this is not a game. This could determine fates.
There are two more important items. First – equipment. The whole world is facing a tremendous shortage of protective suits, face masks and ventilators. Two hundred countries, except possibly for one or two, are competing fiercely for this equipment, including the US.
It must be understood that even if there is an expectation that an epidemic like Corona will break out sometime, warehouses cannot be kept full for years with perishable equipment, equipment with a very short expiration date. Indeed, in such a situation of global shortages the State of Israel is using all means at its disposal, all means, in a tremendous effort to make up the shortfall. We are using the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry and the Mossad. There are also my personal connections with world leaders as well as independent production. We are employing all of these in order to fill the gaps. We are working to protect our medical crews, the doctors, the nurses and the technicians. These are the heroes at the front, in the first line. We all applauded them today. There are putting themselves at risk doing amazing work. We are working to increase the number of ventilators by both imports and independent production. We are working on swabs for diagnoses and ventilators for treating patients.
Regarding Corona tests, we are learning from the leading countries on this issue so that we will be no less good. There are things that they learn from us and there are things that we can learn from them. By Sunday, we will reach 3,000 tests a day. This is comparable to the number of tests per capita in South Korea. My directive is that by the following week, we will reach 5,000 tests daily, and even more after that. This will put Israel among the top countries. This is all regarding the first item – equipment.
Now to the second item, which I have already touched on – responsibility. I am working day and night, around the clock, together with my fellow ministers, the National Security Council and the director generals of the Health, Finance and other ministries, the health system, the Finance Ministry, the Defense Ministry and the police. Together with you I feel the great responsibility that has been placed on our shoulders but the responsibility is also yours, citizens of Israel.
Each one of you is a fighter in the campaign against Corona. Don’t say ‘It won’t happen to me’ or ‘It won’t happen to my family’ because if you do not act correctly, it will happen to you. Don’t say ‘It will be OK’ because if you do not act correctly, it will not be OK. Indeed, despite all the difficulty of the great challenge posed by the Corona epidemic, I want to tell you that I am proud of our people and our state with all my heart. It is precisely now that one can see what strength we have, what vitality and what mutual concern.
Several minutes ago, I spoke with the managing director of El Al, Gonen Ussishkin and with pilot Ofer Aloni. We sent four planes to Peru to pick up hundreds of Israelis and bring them back home. This is mutual responsibility at its best. Every family at this time is at home but at this time we are all one family. I think of the generations that preceded us, of the pioneers who established the State of Israel. They also dealt with diseases, with fevers, with malaria. It was very difficult for them but they did not think of giving up in despair even for a second. Their great spirit has passed through the chain of generations; it also beats within us. The way to victory over the Corona epidemic will be long and hard; I always tell you this. But I also tell you that with G-d’s help, and with mutual help, we will be victorious.
In this context, I would like to tell you about a very moving moment that my wife and I experienced today, a moment of joy and hope within Corona. The spokesperson of the Prime Minister’s Office, Shir, married the choice of her heart, Nir. Shir and Nir together organized a wedding with hundreds of people but because of the directives, they were forced to cancel it. They asked my wife and I to put their wedding canopy in the yard of the Prime Minister’s Residence and we agreed immediately. The [Ashkenazi] Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi David Lau, officiated. There was a very small crowd but there was very great joy. We all maintained a physical distance from each other but there was no distance of the heart. The voice of bride and groom was heard in the streets of Jerusalem.”
As of 10 pm local time, there were 677 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the State of Israel.
The Defense Ministry announced also on Thursday evening that it completed the purchase of 2,500 ventilators for Israeli medical centers, at a cost of $50 million.