Outbreak among Israeli pupils puts chance of emergence from lockdown in doubt
AN OUTBREAK of coronavirus cases in schools has jeopardised Israel’s emergence from lockdown and reached all the way to Benjamin Netanyahu’s office after the Israeli prime minister came into contact with a maintenance worker whose own illness was traced to a Jerusalem school.
The infected employee is understood to have contracted the virus at the Gymnasia Rehavia high school, where 160 pupils and staff became infected as classes resumed a fortnight ago. Hundreds of new infections last week brought the country’s total to 17,706 cases, with 292 deaths.
By Friday, 92 educational institutions were closed until further notice after detecting at least one case, with around 13,700 pupils and staff being told to self-isolate. The Israeli Education Ministry has so far stopped short of closing all schools and universities, as it did for two months from mid
March. But Dr Asher Salmon, head of international relations in the Ministry of Health, said that some secondary schools were only seeing 40 to 50 per cent of normal attendance.
“We are not at the end of the first wave of the virus and still have many community-based spreaders of the disease,” he said. The fresh spike in infections has illustrated the dangers of reopening schools and offices in a country which had previously declared victory over the virus through a strict lockdown. It also raised fears that Mr
Netanyahu may have to enter quarantine for a third time in as many months, because the infected worker adjusted his microphone as he gave a speech on coronavirus last weekend.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said that an investigation was under way to establish if he had direct contact with the employee and would therefore have to self-isolate. By Friday, the results had not been released, although Mr Netanyahu attended public meetings as usual and appeared to be in good health.