Israel considers strict lockdown as cases escalate

ISRAEL’S cabinet yesterday moved towards a near-complete lockdown to curb its escalating coronavirus outbreak in the run-up to the Jewish High Holidays, a prospect likely to anger the ultra-orthodox allies of Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister.

Yuli Edelstein, the health minister, had proposed a total lockdown after 3,904 new cases were reported on Wednesday, a daily record that brought the total to 142,582. The death toll also rose by 11 to 1,054.

But the cabinet is instead considering proposals from Ronni Gamzu, Israel’s virus tsar, to shut schools, restaurants, malls, outdoor markets and venues after Rosh Hashanah – Jewish new year – next week.

The lockdown is likely to affect the important fast of Yom Kippur and the festival of Sukkot. Israelis traditionally hold large family gatherings and attend synagogue services at this time.

The threat of a full lockdown came as Chezy Levy, the director-general of Israel’s health ministry, told Israel’s Army Radio: “We are beginning to see congestion in the hospitals and staff are talking about very great difficulty in providing the best care. We will have to take on more severe restrictions, which will affect our way of life.”

Israel was initially lauded for its swift response to coronavirus in March, when the borders were sealed off and tough measures were imposed.

The Israel Defence Forces, the nation’s conscript army, were deployed to distribute food packages to vulnerable people so they did not need to leave their houses. In some severely affected neighbourhoods, mobile phone surveillance was used to track the movements of suspected virus carriers.

But after a period of relative calm, which prompted the government to ease restrictions, the virus returned in force and the rate of infection rose steeply through the summer.

This week, the government imposed restrictions on 40 of the worst-affected areas, including curfews, limits on public gatherings and school closures. They mostly affected Arab and ultraorthodox, or Haredim, communities, who have bristled at perceived “discrimination”. “The entire Haredi public won’t forget the injustice carried out against it,” a group of mayors from ultra-orthodox cities and towns wrote in a letter to Mr Netanyahu.

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