The Israeli school system opened its doors on Sunday for grades 1-3 and 11- 12 after weeks of closure due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Students were required to wear masks, and bring in notes from home confirming they are healthy. Class sizes were limited to a smaller number of children.
The government decided Friday to gradually jump-start the education system and plans to add additional classes and the kindergartens in the coming weeks if Israel maintains its low morbidity rate.
The Ministry of Education reported that about 80% of the schools commenced operations on Sunday, while the rest remained closed because they were unable to make the required arrangements in time.
In the coming week, logistical-administrative preparations will be completed for daycare and kindergartens, which are intended to return to activity next week.
Grades 4-10 will return later this month.
Israel in the past two weeks has gradually eased some of the Coronavirus-related restrictions with the objective of setting the economy back on track.
The opening of malls and places of tourism is now on the table for discussion.
MDA announced it was shutting down its dedicated hotline for virus-related issues and some of the hospitals have shut down their Coronavirus wards, a sign Israel was on the road to recovery.
Less than 100 new Coronavirus patients were registered over the weekend, as the country was ranked 37th place in the world in the number of active patients.
In the last day, only 41 new patients were diagnosed in Israel, joining a total of 6,329 active patients, who were outnumbered by the 9,634 who have recovered.
A total of 229 Israelis died of the virus, mostly elderly people with previous illnesses.