Government ministers overnight Tuesday extended by one week a law that heavily restricts demonstrations and indoor prayers during the current coronavirus lockdown.
Ministers approved the extension via a telephone referendum put forward by Health Minister Yuli Edelstein.
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The law was approved by the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee last week and will now be in effect until next at least next Wednesday, October 14.
From a legal perspective, Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit told the ministers there was nothing in the law prohibiting them form extending the "special state of emergency due to the coronavirus" by one week.
The law states that no more than 20 people can protest at one time, and must be in the open air. Their protest must also be less than 1,000 yards from their place of residence.
Accordingly, thousands of people participated in hundreds of anti-government protests in various locations around the country on Tuesday, mostly gathering on bridges and at intersections near their homes.
In terms of an exit strategy from the current lockdown measures, some ministers on Tuesday echoed comments by national corona commissioner Professor Ronni Gamzu and called for the replacement of the nationwide lockdown with "differential restrictions" -- which would ease the limits on cities and towns with lower rates of infection while keeping most restrictions in place on areas with high levels of infection.
"We need to move to a differential model, and impose limits on 'red' cities, and to do so faster than we anticipated," one minister said.
In the Haredi sector, meanwhile -- which has come under fire in recent days over reportedly widespread disregard for lockdown restrictions during the Sukkot holiday, including mass gatherings -- Knesset representatives appear to be altering their all-or-no-one approach to the pandemic.
In an interview with Kan 11 News on Tuesday night, Shas Chairman and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri told his constituents he does not oppose the differential model.
"In two weeks, something like that, we'll partially relax the closure. But let there be no doubt. Areas, cities that remain red and where the morbidity rate is high, they won't open. After all, they won't close the whole country because of a few cities. So these cities will later come to us with complaints and say: Why are these red cities, perhaps Haredi, closed? Yes, once again they're singling out the Haredim. No, friends, whoever doesn't keep the rules, he'll eventually have to remain in lockdown."
An official in United Torah Judaism told Israel Hayom: "If there are infections, what can you do?! We believe the scope of morbidity will decrease in the coming days."
Gamzu said in a Tuesday afternoon press conference that it was too early to tell if the new figures represented a significant trend.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was cause for "cautious optimism" that the country was on the way to exiting the second wave but said that despite the positive signs, he would not be rushing to lift the nationwide lockdown.
The Health Ministry said on Tuesday that there were 5,680 new confirmed infections from the previous day.
The number of patients in serious condition was 880, while 27 new deaths were recorded Tuesday, bringing the toll to 1,797.
As of Tuesday evening, the number of active cases stood at 63,831, the lowest figure recorded since September 25, though that figure could be due to reduced testing over the past few days.
Last Wednesday, the number of daily new cases reached an all-time high of 9,053, went down to 7,031 on Friday, then 2,581 on Saturday -- when the numbers are always lower due to reduced testing over the weekend -- and then 2,905 on Sunday, according to the Health Ministry.
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