Coronavirus: Israel is re-fining for at least three weeks
The general containment in Israel is to last throughout the Jewish holiday season.
REUTERS / Ronen Zvulun
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Israel is the first developed economy to impose a new lockdown to stem a second wave of coronavirus contamination.
The measure will come into effect on Friday.
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"
Today, the government has decided to implement a strict three-week lockdown with the option to extend this measure,
" Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu said in a televised address this Sunday evening.
Last week, Israeli authorities imposed on some 40 cities across the country, including ultra-Orthodox Arab and Jewish towns, in hopes of curbing the spread of the virus.
However, this has not stopped the number of cases from increasing.
As the Jewish holidays approach, the debate has been raging in recent days between supporters of partial or general confinement.
In protest against the project of a generalized reconfinement, the head of an ultra-Orthodox Israeli party and key ally of Benjamin Netanyahu even
resigned this Sunday from his post as minister
.
Outbreak of new cases
Ultimately, the government not only opted for general containment, but extended the measure to at least three weeks, during the Jewish holidays, to try to limit the spread of Covid-19 as families gather and worshipers. are found in synagogues.
The measure will come into force from Friday, September 18 for the feast of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), will continue during Yom Kippur and will end on the last day of Sukkot, around October 9, authorities said.
According to data collected by Agence France-Presse, Israel is the second country in the world with the most cases of the novel coronavirus per capita in the past two weeks, after Bahrain.
Israel had imposed a strict lockdown in mid-March during which flights to foreign countries had almost all been canceled, non-essential businesses closed, public gatherings banned and the population confined.
A relatively low number of sick cases had enabled the government to speed up deconfinement with the reopening of bars, restaurants and cafes, places of worship and with the authorization of weddings, while maintaining the obligation to wear a mask.
But Israel's infection rate is on the rise again.
The Hebrew state has 153,217 cases of Covid-19, including 1,103 deaths, for a population of nine million.
(
With
AFP)
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