Prime Minister warns: If the increase in morbidity continues, we will reinstate restrictions

June 11, 2020   

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a special statement this evening (Thursday) following the increase in coronavirus cases in various centers across the country. Regarding dealing with the coronavirus, Netanyahu said that there are "first signs that our economy is starting to recover." The prime minister warned: "We are returning to the place of the steep increase in morbidity that brought us to seriously ill and dead patients. If this continues, we will have to reinstate the restrictions - and the economy will also come to a halt." He added: "The distance between 200 patients a day and the peak that was here is ten days." Netanyahu appealed to the Israeli public to adhere to the Ministry of Health's guidelines: "I ask you to maintain the MMI: distance, mask and hands." Finance Minister Yisrael Katz also issued a statement in which he announced that workers aged 67 and over who have not returned to work will receive an additional monthly grant of 4,000 shekels. "Those who are eligible for negative income tax - next month we will give them all the grants together. That's about 8,000 shekels per person," he said. In his opening remarks, Netanyahu welcomed US President Trump's decision to allow sanctions to be imposed against the International Criminal Court. "The court is conducting a witch hunt against Israel and the US," the prime minister said.