Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that a decision has been made to close the schools and universities in Israel in response to the Coronavirus crisis.
Currently excluded from the closures are day care, nursery schools and kindergartens, classes up to and including the 3rd grade, special education, and at-risk schools. A decision will be made in the near future about those schools and grades.
The Prime Minister compared the current situation to the Spanish Flu of 1918, with a mortality rate of 2%-4%. The goal of the closure and quarantines is to slow down the spread of the Coronavirus so that the medical system can handle the number of sick people, and buy time to find a cure.
In any case, school was supposed to end in two weeks for a month long Passover vacation.
נתניהו על השבתת מערכת החינוך: אנו סוגרים את בתי הספר והאוניברסיטאות. הפעוטונים וגני הילדים יישארו פתוחים pic.twitter.com/KwiinDEiSm
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news)
Netanyahu also called for a temporary emergency unity government.