COVID-19: Israel announces partial lockdown after a surge in cases

4th September: Israel has announced a partial national lockdown after the coronavirus cases surged in the country.

According to the reports from Reuters, Israel will impose a partial national lockdown next week to battle a coronavirus infection surge.

Israel announces partial national lockdown after coronavirus surge https://t.co/T05gp6C0ug pic.twitter.com/9ZCexSb6Iw

— Reuters (@Reuters) September 3, 2020

The health official, Ronni Gamzu, said Israel was facing a “pivotal moment” in trying to contain the spread of COVID-19, with some 3,000 new cases now reported daily in a population of nine million.

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“Please, no weddings now, no mass gatherings … anywhere,” Gamzu, his voice rising to a shout, implored on TV. “There are cities in Israel that will be put under curfew and closure in the coming week and face economic, social, and personal hardship.”

The health official puts much of the blame on close-knit ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, who were not following the social distancing rules and had a high infection rate.

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Other health officials blamed the political in-fighting among members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, which has led to a slow response to the second wave of cases after a national lockdown flattened the infection curve in May.

Gamzu said infection rates were high in Jewish seminaries in ultra-Orthodox areas, and he appealed to religious leaders to ensure social distancing rules were followed.

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Schools in Israel reopened from Sept 1, with in-class teaching.

There have been 122,799 confirmed coronavirus cases in Israel and 976 deaths.

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