JERUSALEM: Israel will enter a three-week nationwide lockdown starting on Friday to contain the spread of the coronavirus after a second- wave surge of new cases, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.
During the lockdown, which comes during the Jewish high-holiday season, Israelis will have to stay within 500 meters of their houses, but can travel to workplaces that will be allowed to operate on a limited basis.
Schools and shopping malls will be closed but supermarkets and pharmacies will remain open. The public sector will operate with fewer staff, but non-governmental offices and businesses will not have to close, as long as they do not accept customers.
Indoor gatherings are limited to 10 people and no more than 20 people outdoors.
“I know those measures will exact a heavy price on us all,” Netanyahu said in a televised address. “This is not the kind of holiday we are used to. And we certainly won’t be able to celebrate with our extended families.”
The Finance Ministry said the lockdown will cost the economy, which slipped into a recession in the wake of the virus, an estimated 6.5 billion shekels ($1.88 billion).
Netanyahu, who has faced increasing criticism over his handling of the coronavirus crisis, said he instructed his finance minister to come up with a new economic package to assist businesses hurt by the lockdown.
Israel declared an even tighter lockdown in April when the virus first arrived, after which daily cases dropped to low double digits among a population of nine million.
But as the economy reopened, daily infections jumped, passing 4,000 last week. On Saturday, 2,715 new cases were reported. Since the outbreak began, 1,108 people have died.
The country’s health system “raised a red flag” a few days ago, spurring the government to act, Netanyahu said.
The director general of the Health Ministry, Hezi Levy, said in a radio interview earlier on Sunday that “dozens of localities are being sucked into the circle of morbidity.”
“We have to impose severe restrictions, but they will be able to stem this wave and not bring us to the brink of an abyss,” Levy said. ($1 = 3.4566 shekels)
Israel to lock down nationwide in main holiday season amid COVID-19 surge
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Israel to lock down nationwide in main holiday season amid COVID-19 surge
Seven killed in drone strike on Sudan hospital: medical source
- Dilling, in the flashpoint state of South Kordofan, is controlled by the Sudanese army but has been under siege by rival paramilitary forces
- Sunday’s strike comes a day after a drone strike on a UN peacekeeping base killed six Bangladeshi troops in the similarly besieged South Kordofan state capital of Kadugli
PORT SUDAN: A drone strike Sunday on an army hospital in the besieged southern Sudan city of Dilling left “seven civilians dead and 12 injured,” a health worker at the facility told AFP.
The victims included patients and their companions, the medic said on condition of anonymity, explaining that the army hospital “serves the residents of the city and its surroundings, in addition to military personnel.”
Dilling, in the flashpoint state of South Kordofan, is controlled by the Sudanese army but has been under siege by rival paramilitary forces.
Since April 2023, the army has been at war with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who control swathes of the greater Kordofan region along with their allies, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) faction led by Abdelaziz Al-Hilu.
Sunday’s strike comes a day after a drone strike on a United Nations peacekeeping base killed six Bangladeshi troops in the similarly besieged South Kordofan state capital of Kadugli, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Dilling.
According to the UN, civilians in Dilling are suffering famine conditions, but a lack of access to data has prevented an official declaration.
Across the country, the war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 12 million and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
