United Torah Judaism will "consider" leaving the coalition if the government decides to instate a lockdown for the High Holidays in an attempt to stop the spread of coronavirus, UTJ leader Yakov Litzman told HaModia, the newsletter of the Agudath Israel movement, on Friday.
Litzman said that "approving the massive demonstrations outside [the Prime Minister's Residence] on Balfour St., along with opening cultural venues, while continuing to restrict synagogues and prevent reaching an arrangement to allow travel to Uman [in the Ukraine] have wrecked the Haredi public's faith in the system."
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However, other sources in UTJ are not backing Litzman's belligerent statement.
"We aren't threatening to pull out of the coalition. We aren't headed in that direction, there's a lot more to be done," one official said.
Another said, "We don't know where Litzman got that from. There was never a consultation with the faction. He is speaking for himself."
After resigning as health minister in May, Litzman attacked the ministry staff and claimed there was no justification for locking down entire cities for the Passover holiday.
Meanwhile, a total of 855 coronavirus patients were hospitalized as of Friday morning, including 426 in serious condition and 178 listed in moderate condition. Of the patients listed in serious condition, 118 were on ventilators, the same number as on Thursday.
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Since the start of the COVID epidemic in Israel, 111,493 Israelis have contracted coronavirus, 90,158 of whom have recovered. The number of symptomatic cases stood at 20,444, down 574 from Thursday.
The death toll stood at 891 on Friday, after three more patients succumbed to the virus.
A total of 299 doctors were in quarantine as of Friday morning, as were 558 nurses and 1,042 members of other health care professions.
On Friday, Bnei Brak led the list of cities graded "red" under the Health Ministry's "traffic light" system, meaning that public outreach, increased testing, and enforcement of quarantine were needed to stop the spread of coronavirus among the residents.
Other major red cities included Tira, with 799 confirmed cases, Umm al-Fahm, with 764 cases, and Kafr Qasim, with 740.
Jerusalem has been downgraded to "orange" in the Health Ministry's coronavirus system, which signifies that more testing is warranted.
