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September 13, 2020 The Israeli government has decided on a three-week lockdown starting Friday, with the possibility of it being extended beyond.
This was announced by Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu at the end of an extraordinary session of the government.
"We expect it to last at least until the Simchat Torah festival," October 10.
In response to a question, Netanyahu flatly denied that his government had failed to contain the pandemic.
Netanyahu specified that this measure was necessary after a "red flag" was raised in hospitals due to increasing pressure on medical teams.
"In a few days we went from 30 to 80 red cities," he said.
To limit the damage to the economy, the public sector will continue to operate (but in a reduced form) and so will the private sector, which however will not be able to receive public.
Any kind of gathering will also be prevented.
Prayers for the Jewish New Year (September 18) and for the subsequent fast of Yom Kippur will take place in a very reduced form.
Precisely the concomitance of the Jewish holidays, in which economic activity in Israel is slowing down anyway, should, according to Netanyahu, help the market overcome the crisis.
"Compared to other economies, Israel has contracted less," he argued.