Deputy Attorney General Raz Nazri on Tuesday informed the Netanyahu Cabinet Ministers that it would not be possible to impose an overnight lockdown because the position of the Health Ministry is that such a move is ineffective in combating the spread of the coronavirus. The issue is expected to come up at the next cabinet meeting, and it is currently unclear whether the lockdown would be implemented.
Late Monday night, the Corona Cabinet approved a nightly lockdown starting Wednesday. Trade would be banned and traffic restrictions will be imposed during the curfew hours. The proposal was submitted by the National Security Headquarters (Malal) but did not receive the backing of the Health Ministry, which believes that the lockdown won’t have a significant impact on the morbidity curve.
On Tuesday, the government will discuss the outline of the nightly lockdown that was approved by the Corona cabinet. According to the decision, the lockdown is supposed to take effect from Wednesday or Thursday until January 2, 2021, at which point another lockdown or additional restrictions are expected. Those later measures are also expected to be discussed Tuesday.
Former Director-General of the Health Ministry Moshe Bar Siman Tov on Monday morning told Reshet Bet radio that his experience has been that, on occasion, political considerations overwhelm professional ones in managing the pandemic. “In the parts I was involved in, regarding opening the education system in May, there was a lot of pressure. We were all carried away by this pressure, all of us as a government. I was part of that process.”
The Corona Czar for the Arab sector, Ayman Saif, told Reshet Bet radio on Tuesday morning: “We are in a rising trend across the country. An overnight lockdown should contribute to some extent to reducing morbidity. Its effectiveness is questionable – but the desire is to avoid a general lockdown.”
Saif further noted that “local closures are also less effective, but it is another tool in dealing with the spread. The spot curfews in red communities continues, but the decline in morbidity in the Arab sector – from 40% to less than 30% – is the result of an increase in morbidity in the general society” and not a sign of improvement in those Arab municipalities.