Israel to enter third national lockdown for at least two weeks as Covid-19 infections surge

Israel’s prime minister has announced that the country will enter another national lockdown on Sunday, subject to final approval from government ministers, in order to tackle rising coronavirus cases.

The announcement of a new national lockdown was made on Thursday morning in a joint statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Health Ministry. 

The statement says that a decision has been reached “in principle” but would require the approval of ministers.

The lockdown is due to begin on Sunday at 5pm and last for at least two weeks.

“There is an option to extend the lockdown for an additional two weeks, unless the basic reproduction number (for the virus) falls below 1 and the number of new cases per day falls below 1,000,” the statement read. 

The lockdown restrictions will prohibit Israelis from entering another person’s home, with the exception of immediate family members. It will also restrict people to moving no more than 1 kilometer away from their home, with certain exceptions.  

Public transport capacity will be limited to 50 percent and workplaces will also need to function at half capacity.

Restaurants will be restricted to delivery orders only. 

The announcement comes as Israel has topped 3,000 cases per day in the last several days and fears grow that a new ‘highly contagious’ form of Covid-19 may be spreading in the country.  

On Wednesday, Israel’s health authorities said that they had found four cases of a virus variant, prevalent in UK, which is supposedly up to 70 percent more contagious. 

A new rule came into effect on Wednesday that requires all Israelis arriving from abroad to be quarantined in state-operated and specifically designated hotels. 

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