Some 30,000 Israeli students began learning remotely via Zoom on Monday morning due to the high rate of COVID-19 infections in their communities.
Seventh to twelfth grade classes located in “red” or “orange” designated communities – approximately 918 classes — are required to use distance learning if fewer than 70 percent of the students are vaccinated or recovered from the virus, in accordance with the plan agreed on last week by the Health Ministry and the government.
Early childhood education, afternoon and special education programs plus those for immigrants and at-risk youth are not affected by the decision and are operating as usual.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz discussed an update for the quarantine format during the day on Monday, with an additional discussion slated to take place sometime later in the day.
Also participating in the discussion were the Health Ministry Director General, the Education Ministry Director General, the Director of the Public Health Service, the national coronavirus project manager, the Deputy Director of the National Security Council, the Finance Ministry Budget Director, the Defense Ministry Civil Defense Director and additional professional officials.
The Health Ministry reported during the day Monday that Israel had for the first time since October 10 crossed the 2,000-case threshold of COVID-19 cases diagnosed in a day — and that with several hours left to go. Out of some 77,000 tests conducted, 2,007 came back with positive results, the ministry said, raising the infection positivity rate to 2.6 percent.