Israel’s government cabinet has approved the extension of the country’s current COVID-19 lockdown until 7 am on Friday.
The ministers also approved an extension of the closure on Ben Gurion International Airport for at least another week at its hours-long meeting, which ended just a few minutes before midnight.
The ministers met to decide whether to extend the current lockdown by another week, or to lift the restrictions entirely.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the opening of the meeting that he supported the Health Ministry’s request to extend the lockdown for another week.
“The world is under an intense attack by British and South African mutations,” Netanyahu said. “Health systems in many countries are on the verge of collapse and in Israel it has been stretched to its maximum … We can vaccinate the public thanks to the millions of vaccines we brought to Israel, [and] within a week we will inoculate a million more,” he added.
“We are in a very tight race to vaccinate as many Israeli citizens as possible before the the spread of the mutations.”
Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz asked for the restrictions to be lifted.
“On my way to Tel Aviv, I drove through the streets of Jerusalem, Bnei Brak and Ramat Gan and the reality is that everything is open. Israel is not New Zealand,” Gantz said, according to a report by Ynet.
He added that the damage from the prolonged lockdown, both mental and economic, is immense. “This disease also has side effects due to lockdowns: depression, loss of education and livelihood, heart disease and obesity. We mustn’t fall in love with lockdown as a solution. This is especially true now when there are the vaccines. When you add to this the economic and social aspect, you end up with a very heavy toll.”
Approximately 1.7 million Israelis – almost 20 percent of the population – have already received both doses of the coronavirus vaccine. An additional 1.3 million Israelis have received their first dose of the vaccine, according to the Health Ministry.