Israel Approves Plan for Another Full Nationwide Lockdown

JERUSALEM, Israel – Israeli leaders on Thursday approved another full nationwide lockdown as virus cases continue to soar.

Government ministers will announce the exact dates of when the lockdown will begin after a cabinet meeting on Sunday, but Israelis expect the new measures will go into effect before the Jewish holidays begin next week.

The lockdown will be long-term and is broken up into three stages, according to a statement from the Health Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office. Hebrew media reports the lockdown will likely last around a month.

The first stage of the lockdown will be the most severe. Israeli police and soldiers will prohibit all residents from venturing farther than 500 meters (1640 feet) away from their private homes. All schools will be shut down except for special education centers. All businesses and places of recreation will be ordered to close and restaurants will only be allowed to deliver meals.

The implementation of the second and third stage measures will depend on the success of the first stage in bringing down Israel’s morbidity.

In the second stage, police and military will restrict movement between cities and limit the number of people at gatherings. All businesses, restaurants (except deliveries), and places of recreation will be closed. Places of work that do not serve the public, like factories, will be allowed to work at 30%-50% capacity. Schools, except special needs centers, will remain closed. Leaders will determine if schools can reopen after the Sukkot holiday in October.

In the third stage, the government will impose restrictions based on the morbidity rate of each city and municipality.

Government leaders expect Israelis to suffer economically from the restrictions and promise to construct an “economic safety net” for business owners and citizens.

The closure is expected to cost Israel billions of dollars and business owners vowed there will be “anarchy” if they are forced to shut down again without receiving a compensation package to keep them from going bankrupt.

A fifth of Israeli businesses are not expected to survive into 2021 thanks to the first coronavirus lockdown earlier this year, according to a report by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.

About 850,000 Israelis are currently unemployed and that number is expected to rise.

More than 146,000 people have been infected with the virus. Most have recovered and just over 1,000 people have died. Israel is seeing about 4,000 new cases a day.