The special ministerial taskforce dealing with the coronavirus pandemic has announced a halt to the easing of restrictions due to the recent spike in cases in Israel.
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At the end of the meeting on Monday, during which the ministers got a briefing from experts, the forum announced that apart from the planned opening of wedding halls and other venues for limited private events and celebrations, the remaining restrictions would stand, putting on hold the full reopening of the Israeli economy and its transit system.
Following the meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "We have sat down with experts, who showed us that that there is a very sharp increase in incidence levels, and the infection rate means cases may be doubling every 10 days. We may already be at this rate, and I hope that this is not the case," Netanyahu says.
The ministers also agreed to move forward on a watered-down version of a bill that would grant the Shin Bet security agency access to cellular location data and other information on Israeli citizens to help monitor carriers and limit community spread.
Health Ministry officials on Sunday reported 111 new confirmed cases. For the first time in five weeks, meanwhile, there has been an increase in the number of patients on ventilators -- from 21 to 23.. The overall number of deaths in Israel due to the coronavirus now stands at 298 after two more people died from the disease over the weekend.
As of Sunday the number of infected students was 277 and the number of sick teachers was 75. Altogether 78 schools have closed their doors, out of around 5,000 schools throughout the country. The number of students in quarantine is 15,489 and the number of teachers in quarantine is 2,107.
Education Minister Yoav Gallant said the ministry's safety policies would remain unchanged, meaning that any school with a confirmed case of the coronavirus will be shut down.
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