Government considering closures at nights and weekends: to reduce infection at parties

July 14, 2020   

After a three-hour discussion at a 'consultation forum' convened by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his office today (Tuesday), it was decided not to impose any additional restrictions on the public for the time being. However, according to a report in 'Kan News', the government is considering imposing a partial lockdown - at night and on weekends, in order to reduce transmission at parties and social events. How can you become a programmer, paramedic, or multimedia producer without investing a single penny? The person who raised the idea in today's discussion was Science and Technology Minister Yizhar Shai. In response, the prime minister said that the issue should be examined. During the discussion, Netanyahu asked to impose additional restrictions on the public now, but Defense Minister Benny Gantz blocked this, claiming that the updated morbidity data should be waited for following the restrictions that have already been imposed. During the discussion, the demand from various parties for a complete lockdown was raised again. Those leading this line are the head of the National Security Staff, Meir Ben-Shabbat, and the former Director General of the Ministry of Health, Moshe Bar Siman Tov - who was invited to the discussion for the first time since he resigned. "We have lost control," Bar Siman Tov said in the discussion, "We need to take immediate steps, the situation is serious. We have reached the situation we were in the previous round." The head of the National Security Council added: "I ask the decision-makers to decide on new restrictions within a few days." Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said: "The measures taken so far are not enough, new restrictions need to be ordered. If we do not take drastic measures, there will be a lockdown in a few days." Among the proposals for additional restrictions that came up today in a discussion with the Prime Minister, and it has not yet been decided whether to implement them: closing summer camps and canceling school during the summer holidays, closing synagogues, restaurants and gyms, limiting gatherings to 10 people and reducing public transportation.