191,000 Israelis returned to the country during outbreak

Pre-schools and daycares to reopen on Sunday

No new coronavirus-related death was registered in Israel in the previous 24 hours and the number of recovered patients (10,737) is more than double the figure of active cases (5,370), the Health Ministry announced on Thursday morning.

The number of hospitalized patients currently stands at 245, some 83 of whom are in serious condition, including 69 who are intubated. A total of 239 people in Israel have succumbed to COVID-19 since the beginning of the crisis.

The steady decline of the infection rate in Israel is therefore confirmed on the day that marks the beginning of the second phase of the country’s exit strategy, with shopping malls, markets and workout centers resuming activity. All facilities have to implement several safety measures, including taking customers’ temperatures and limiting the number who are allowed in.

Meanwhile, outgoing justice minister Amir Ohana announced on Thursday that he was extending the state of court emergency from May 10 until May 17 at the request of the court system, in order to have an additional week to make preparations for holding more hearings under corona conditions.

Since Netanyahu’s trial is set for May 24, it will not be delayed by the extension.

As the next step in Israel’s exit strategy, preschools and daycares are preparing to reopen their doors on Sunday, in a step that is considered essential to allow parents to go back to work and therefore to bring the country’s economy back to full speed.

Following a prolonged discussion held Thursday night, the Finance Ministry reached an understanding with representatives of the various private daycares so that they will return to partial operation as scheduled, while following the Health Ministry’s guidelines regarding the coronavirus.

Within these agreements, preschools and daycares will receive a one-time grant to cover the cost of the new measures that will be put in place due to the coronavirus crisis, with emphasis on limiting the amount of children present and other specific restrictions needed for young children.

The agreements specify that daycares with 7 to 12 children will receive a grant of 350 NIS per child, daycares with 13 to 24 will receive a grant of 700 NIS per child, and those with more than 24 will receive 1,200 NIS per child.

These agreements now include private daycares, which now join previous agreements which dealt with supervised daycares.

However, it is still estimated that thousands of children will not be able to return to their facility because of the coronavirus restrictions.

Globally, the number of people infected with the virus stands at about 3.76 million, with 262,458 who have died, according to Reuters.

The Foreign Ministry has stated that since the beginning of the pandemic, about 191,000 Israelis have returned to Israel from abroad, Ynet reported.

The embassies have issued over 8,500 new passports, mostly at the request of Israelis living abroad who wished to register their children as citizens so that they could fly back to the country.

Yonah Jeremy Bob and Omri Ron contributed to this report.