The much-dreaded coronavirus hit list of 40 “red cities” and the 10-hour night curfew (between 7 pm and 5 am) that will see non-essential businesses closing down during those hours, and a general school shutdown did not go into effect as anticipated on Monday.
Mayors and ministers were still battling it out during the day over which cities were being named to the list, and which cities had escaped the ignominy.
“As of last night, the Health Ministry has been holding consultations with the mayors in which a night closure was planned, in accordance with the decision of the Ministerial Committee on Declaring Restricted Zones,” the Health Ministry said Monday evening in a statement to media.
“At the same time, throughout the day, the professionals in the office have been checking the data of these cities. In view of the length of the consultation proceedings, the closure will take effect starting Tuesday at 7 p.m. instead of this evening.
“The final list of cities will be published after the approval of the ministerial staff for restricted areas tonight.”
Hoping to Avoid General Lockdown
Speaking at a joint briefing, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein and Coronavirus Czar Professor Roni Gamzu told reporters and members of the public that everyone still hopes to avoid a lockdown but the coronavirus cabinet will meet at the end of the week to form a plan for the holidays, one way or the other.
“We are operating on two axes – health and the economy,” Netanyahu said bluntly. “Of course we want to avoid a general lockdown, or at least postpone it. We have been doing this for months.
“We have now decided to take a step toward closure on the 40 red cities,” he said, adding that the list will be published Monday night.
New COVID-19 Cases Again Top 3,000
Meanwhile, once again, there were more than three thousand cases of the novel coronavirus diagnosed in Israel between Sunday evening and Monday evening.
The Health Ministry reported 3,026 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday evening, bringing the active coronavirus cases to 27,099. Of those, 476 are listed in very serious condition, including 139 patients who require ventilator support, and another 149 who are listed in moderate condition. Four more Israelis died this morning, raising the death toll from the virus to 1,026.
There were 19,350 tests conducted on Sunday, and another 25,000 tests carried out on Monday, according to the Health Ministry. The positive test ratio has climbed to 12.3 percent, the ministry said, the highest figure since the start of the pandemic.