Coronavirus czar to recommend lockdown for Jewish holidays - report
Number of serious cases hits record * Health and Tourism ministries to present plan to allow tourists from green countries to enter Israel by end of August * Education ministry announces new outline
By ROSSELLA TERCATINPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuand Transportation Minister Miri Regev visit Ben-Gurion Airport to oversee the reopening of the skies, August 17, 2020(photo credit: CHAIM TZACH/GPO)
Coronavirus commissioner Ronni Gamzu will recommend the cabinet impose a national lockdown during the upcoming Jewish High Holy Days, Channel 12 reported on Monday – just a day after the country reopened the skies to Israelis returning from some 20 countries, canceling the requirement of 14 days of isolation.The report comes against the backdrop of a record number of serious cases, with 399 patients currently in serious condition – the highest figure since the beginning of the outbreak.According to Channel 12, Gamzu has come to the conclusion that in order to contain the current outbreak, it will be necessary to impose more stringent restrictions than the ones that are currently in place.Among the measures he is considering are further limiting the number of worshipers in synagogues, closing hotels and tourist attractions, restricting movement and requiring that holidays only be celebrated with one’s nuclear family. Similar restrictions were enforced in the spring for the holidays of Passover and Ramadan.Gamzu, in reaction to the report, stated his position on any form of lockdown has not changed, and that he is determined to avoid it at any cost, provided that the healthcare system continues to function. He added that he is studying different scenarios and restrictions as required by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who assigned him the task of preparing a detailed plan. In doing so, he is consulting with experts in order to achieve the greatest health benefit at the lowest economic cost.According to data released by the Health Ministry, 111 patients are currently intubated. Some 760 new cases were diagnosed on Saturday and 1,060 on Sunday. While the numbers of new patients are much lower than those of previous days, the number of tests conducted also dropped significantly – from more than 20,000 per day to about 10,000 on Saturday and 12,000 on Sunday – giving an infection rate of about 7.6% and 8.8%, respectively.As of press time on Monday, 921 new patients were identified, out of more than 16,500 tests performed – a drop to about 5.6%In the meantime, the death toll continues to climb, with a total of 692 people who have succumbed to COVID-19. There are currently 23,324 active patients out of 94,277 cases since the virus emerged in Israel – meaning that almost three-quarters of those infected have recovered.Meanwhile, the Education Ministry also on Monday presented an updated outline ahead of the upcoming school year, which is set to start on September 1 as usual, in spite of the coronavirus outbreak.For children in day care up to the age of three, for the first days they will be escorted in by their parents in small groups according to a schedule prepared by each kindergarten. For ages four and five, the activities will operate in a normal manner. Regarding first graders, whose first day is usually marked by a celebration, they will be required to arrive at school gradually accompanied only by one parent.The ministry announced that the materials required for the matriculation exams will be reduced by 10%, to 30% depending on the subject.Because of the coronavirus crisis, students from fifth grade and higher are expected to learn partially from school and partially via remote learning.However, the networks of private kindergartens and day cares reacted negatively to the announcement, stating that they will not open on September 1, because they have not received adequate financial support from the ministry.Earlier in the day, the prime minister visited Ben-Gurion Airport together with Transportation Minister Miri Regev to oversee the reopening of the skies.“This week we opened the skies, and already yesterday 5,000 passengers left the airport for Bulgaria, Croatia and parts of Greece,” Regev said. “We are trying to bring additional good news: Every two weeks we will open additional destinations.”Also on Monday, Health Ministry deputy director-general Itamar Grotto told the Knesset State Audit Committee that the government was working on an outline to allow groups of tourists to visit Israel, as well as for business people to resume traveling even to “red” countries. At the moment, beside citizens, only permanent residents and foreigners with special permission can enter Israel.Grotto added the plan will be submitted to the coronavirus cabinet by the end of August.In addition, the Health Ministry is working on changing the system of testing so that more samples can be checked at the same time, which will allow rapid testing stations to be set up, including at the airport.However, during a press conference later in the day, Grotto said that while Ben-Gurion is working to create the infrastructure for such testing, a test performed right after passengers land is still not going to be able to identify those who might have gotten infected on the plane – so it might represent an additional tool, but not a definitive solution.He added that at the moment, there is no technology that allows people who undergo a test to receive the results on the spot, and likely such solutions will not be available for another one or two months, even though the most advanced projects in this area are being developed in Israel.During the press conference, Dr. Asher Salmon, head of the Health Ministry’s International Department, addressed the issue of traveling to Uman, the Ukrainian city which hosts tens of thousands of Israelis every Rosh Hashanah.“We are very concerned at the idea of tens of thousands gathering in one site,” he said. “We therefore believe that the event cannot happen in its usual form and we are discussing the topic with the Ukrainian authorities.”Salmon also said that the plan being prepared to allow tourists to enter Israel would initially entail small groups traveling in capsules in a very controlled way, and only later in a more flexible framework.HEALTH MINISTRY officials also said that they are looking into adding the United Arab Emirates to the list of “green” countries.The current list of green countries is Austria, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Hong Kong, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Rwanda and Slovenia.However, those states have yet to make any agreement to take Israelis, as Israel is considered a country with a high rate of infection.At the moment, only three countries allow Israelis to visit without requiring them to enter quarantine: Croatia, Bulgaria and to some extent Greece, which agreed to accept 600 tourists in certain areas under a system that entails isolation until there are results of a fast test.The Knesset Coronavirus Committee also discussed the issue of allowing foreign citizens to enter Israel, especially tourists from green countries.Addressing the committee, National Security Council deputy head Eitan Ben-David said such a decision is not only influenced by public health concerns, but also by political considerations.“Once we open to tourists from certain countries with defined conditions like testing, we will need to check why not to open to other countries as well – like, for example, to visitors from the US, which is defined as a ‘red’ country but is our friend,” he said. “We must think about it carefully,” Ben-David said. “There are medical issues, and foreign policy and other considerations at stake.”Ben-Gurion Airport CEO Shmuel Zakay told the committee that, on Sunday, not everyone was clear about the rules they needed to abide by in order to board the plane, which among others require passengers to present the results of a test performed in the previous hours, as well as a health declaration. As a result, 21 passengers booked for a flight to Greece were not allowed to board.Also on Monday, the coronavirus cabinet met via telephone and canceled the limit on the number of employees allowed in a workplace. At the same time, the new regulations require each workplace to appoint a coronavirus superintendent to supervise the observance of the guidelines which remain in place, such as wearing masks and keeping a distance of two meters between each worker.Earlier in the day, Gamzu visited Yarka, a village that had become a focal point of infection over the weekend and was declared an “orange” zone with some 282 people being sick.Gamzu met with the head of the coronavirus headquarters in the Arab sector of Ayman Saif, as well as with representatives from the Home Front Command, the local authorities, the Interior and Health ministries and the police, to formulate a plan to stop the chain of infection in Arab towns and neighborhoods.On Sunday, the commissioner made incendiary statements accusing the Arab sector of “almost carrying out a terror attack,” in an interview with Ynet.“The Arab sector in the last two weeks, after the Eid al-Adha holiday, almost carried out an attack that would have resulted in hundreds of patients. Gatherings, riots, parties, complacency and apathy – thinking coronavirus would not hurt them,” he said, before apologizing later in the day.
