Israel plans to implement two tests a week for children in the education system, ending quarantine for students exposed to a COVID carrier, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced during a speech on Thursday with Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz and Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

"The children of Israel will return to studying. Starting next Thursday, we will start Operation 'Testing and Learning,'" Bennett stated.

All students up to the age of 18 will perform two tests a week at home, one on Sunday morning and one on Wednesday morning before going to school. If the child is negative, they can go to school as normal. If they test positive, they must be tested at a supervised test station and undergo quarantine for five days.

The Health Ministry sought to impose a requirement of three or four tests during the week after exposure, but this measure was opposed by Shasha-Biton.

These at-home rapid antigen tests will be distributed to all students free of charge.

Bennett called on parents to follow the new testing procedures and to refrain from sending the children to school if they show symptoms or test positive.

Following Bennett's speech, Horowitz reiterated the government's strategy of balancing public health, economy, and democracy.

"We chose the complicated but right way – without lockdowns... The easiest thing would have been to close everything down and send masses to unemployment, send all the students home, but when we say living next to COVID, this means also studying next to COVID."

Shasha-Biton stated that ending quarantine for students was the right thing to do for students and teachers, mentioning the mental health toll that isolation takes.

"Every child that comes to school is a child that we're saving," she said.

Currently, only vaccinated pupils have the option of returning to school without quarantine, while unvaccinated children are required to self-isolate for five-seven days if they are exposed to a COVID carrier.

According to data, only about a quarter of Israel's 1.3 million children between the ages of 5-11 – who are eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine – have done so, and only 12% got both shots.

Next Sunday, the Health Ministry's Epidemic Response Team is expected to convene to discuss the issue of the fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine, which is currently only available for people aged 60 and up.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post As of Jan. 27, Israel to end quarantine for students with twice-weekly testing appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Beginning Wednesday, Israelis who test positive for the coronavirus but are asymptomatic as well as those exposed to a confirmed carrier will need to quarantine for five days instead of the previous seven. 

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram  

Confirmed carriers will need to take an at-home antigen test on the fourth and fifth day of their quarantine. Carriers can exit quarantine provided they test negative twice and are asymptomatic. Unvaccinated individuals exposed to a confirmed COVID carrier will be able to exit quarantine upon testing negative on the fifth day of their isolation period. 

In an interview with Army Radio on Wednesday morning, Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash said a record number of Israelis, 71,000, had been confirmed as infected with COVID-19 the previous day. He said 200,000 Israelis likely tested positive for the virus, as many had performed at-home antigen tests. 

According to Ash, there are 526 Israelis in serious condition. 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is set to hold talks with senior Health Ministry officials to formulate a plan to end the current policy of week-long quarantines for unvaccinated students exposed to a confirmed coronavirus carrier following public pressure. Bennett is said to have been more open to the move after officials said they expect the reproduction rate to decline significantly over the next seven to 10 days.

Bennett has proposed Israeli students be continuously tested for the virus, as has been the policy in other locations around the world. Those found to be infected with COVID would enter quarantine, while all those who test negative, regardless of their vaccination status, will be allowed to remain at school.

Meanwhile, the Finance and Culture and Sports Ministries have agreed on an aid package to compensate actors, stage workers, independent artists, cultural institutions, and culture halls that have been out of work for the months of January and February. 

As part of the package,  the government will transfer 28 million shekels (around $9 million) to cultural institutions that continue to employ their workers as well as to pay independent contractors involved in any performance or event canceled due to the coronavirus. Another 10 million shekels (around $3 million) will go toward artists severely impacted by the decline in performances for schools and other places through the state's immediate acquisition of hundreds of such performances. 

Another 50 million shekels (around $16 million) will go to local authorities across the country to benefit cultural activities. 

The government will further increase funding of artists in distress to six million shekels (around $2 million) and will act to increase access to the funds for stage workers. 

In addition, the ministries committed to expanding Israeli Cinema Day activities once morbidity levels decline. 

In a statement, Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman said, "We are constantly acting to keep the market active and functioning, and alongside this, we are providing assistance to sectors that have been harmed. This is what we did for the tourism and aviation sectors, and this is what we are now doing to help the cultural sector."

Culture and Sports Minister Chili Tropper said, "We are committed to the world of culture, and we will continue to stand with it as we have done. We have done everything we can to also help independent artists, childrens' artists, as well as stage workers and the institutions we hold so dear."

In a statement, Shaham – The Israeli Actors' Organization said, "This is positive progress, but God is in the details. We thank Culture Minister Chili Tropper for the great effort he made in recent weeks …. The bottom line: The compensation needs to reach the pockets of artists, creators, and stage workers. If the money remains in the hands of the institutions, we haven't done much. Therefore, in the coming days, we will study the fine print of the framework and ascertain the money goes to those who really need it."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Israel shortens quarantine as COVID chief reports 20,000 new cases appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Some one-third of working Israelis (32%) say they have missed workdays in the past week, and just around one-third (27%) say their children have been in school over that same time. The rest say their children haven't gone to school at all (20%) or just partially (53%), according to a poll conducted by the Maagar Mochot research institute for Israel Hayom that included 508 participants aged 18 and older.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

The figures confirm what every Israeli living here through the fifth wave of the pandemic already knows – that in actuality a "quiet quarantine" is taking place, as opposed to the government openly declaring a general quarantine of the population, which is the case in several countries across the globe, including China and The Netherlands. 

This "quiet quarantine" can be seen and felt across all sectors and aspects of life outside the home, from half-empty classrooms, relatively uncongested roads, half-empty trains and buses, shows and other cultural events that have been canceled en masse, and the semi-barren shopping malls and commercial centers.

This situation, which is so grave from an economic, social, and public health perspective, as the poll reflects, also stands in complete contrast to the arrogant, disconnected declarations by certain government ministers, such as Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who said "the restaurants are full" – or Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton, who has repeatedly said 90% of Israeli students are going to school per normal.

It comes as no surprise, therefore, that the poll showed that Shasha-Biton received the lowest marks for her performance during the fifth wave (only 18% gave her a high or very high grade), along with Lieberman (just 20%). Meanwhile, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz (23%), Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (25%), Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid (26%), and Defense Minister Benny Gantz (35%) received high or very high marks from the public. 

According to the poll, just 22% of those questioned give the government a high or very high mark for its handling of the COVID crisis, 30% give it a mediocre grade, and nearly half (48%) give it a failing grade.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Majority of public unhappy with government's handling of 5th COVID wave, poll finds appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

A European Union report on the Palestinian Authority's education system examined textbooks that were never taught in PA schools, Israel Hayom has ascertained.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The EU study, which was conducted by the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research in Germany, examined 156 textbooks that were received by the EU and represent around one-half of all PA textbooks. The study was concluded in 2020 and was to be published shortly after, but then the EU sought to include another 18 textbooks in the study, claiming they were being taught in Palestinian schools in that school year. Although adding new material to a study after it has been completed deviates from customary practice, the Georg Eckert Institute incorporated the new content into its research but issued a full disclosure that the 18 textbooks in question were added belatedly. In its footnotes on four of the textbooks, researchers noted they had been unable to locate the books in the PA education system's digital library. "The version the PA received from the EU was not online," they said.

That the textbooks were forced into the study after it had already been completed, the very fact that they were received from the EU, and their absence from the official PA portal, raised the question of whether they were being used at all in PA schools. The surprising answer: They were not being used. The Georg Eckert Institute, responding to Israel Hayom's inquiry on the matter, said: "At the request of the EU, 18 textbooks for the 2020-2021 school year were analyzed after the first part of the study was completed (partially), before their introduction in [PA] schools." In other words, the EU and the Georg Eckert Institute treated the textbooks as if they were being taught in Palestinian schools, prior to the fact.

Marcus Sheff, the CEO of IMPACT-se, an international research and policy institute that analyzes school textbooks throughout the world and has a proven track record of examining PA textbooks, told Israel Hayom in the wake of the revelation that "there's no reason for textbooks that never saw the light of day to be included in a report on textbooks that are actually being taught. Using these 'ghost books' raised many questions about the credibility of the findings, and it appears there was an attempt to shoot the arrow and then run to mark the target."

It should be noted that the belated chapter of the study, which analyzed the 18 new textbooks, concluded that the Palestinians were trying to reduce incitement and antisemitism in their schools – a conclusion that allows them to continue receiving funding from the EU for their education system.

Chief Operating Officer of IMPACT-se Arik Agassi added that the study's findings also contradict themselves. According to Agassi, the Palestinian textbooks don't meet the criteria established by UNESCO, which the Georg Eckert Institute essentially concedes.

"In the body of the study, it was stated several times that 'antisemitism and glorification of violence exist' in relation to Jews and Israel and that this content was 'incompatible with UNESCO's criteria.' But these findings were obscured in the report's conclusions and were especially absent from the executive summary. The Georg Eckert Institute is aware of this contradiction and in the FAQ section, which it published last week, it essentially admitted there's an issue here. Indeed, our conclusion, as an organization that has researched Palestinian textbooks for many years, is that they don't meet UNESCO's standards," said Agassi.

The EU said in a statement: "The educational reform [that began] in the Palestinian Authority in 2016-2017 is part of an ongoing process. Due to delays in the research, the EU asked the Georg Eckert Institute to include a survey of the textbooks that would be published in 2020. At the time of the report's completion, 15 out of 18 of the textbooks that were analyzed were online, as detailed in the report."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post EU study on PA textbooks includes unused 'ghost books' appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

After two weeks of stable morbidity rates across the country, including low morbidity among children, the government on Monday approved a Health Ministry proposal to fully reopen schools starting next Sunday, ending the requirement that some grades still learn in so-called "capsules."

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Until now, most schools had limited the number of days per week that children could physically be present at the school.

Children in grades 5-9 were the only remaining students required to study in socially distanced capsules, or pods.

Under the new plan, regular tests will be conducted to keep track of any COVID outbreaks among students or staff members. When a student or staff member is found to be infected, children and staff members who came in contact with the person in question will be required to get tested not only at the end of their isolation period, but also at the beginning of their isolation, to help health officials better track and contain outbreaks.

"We have agreed, as we demanded in Blue and White, on a full and responsible opening of the education system immediately after Independence Day," said Blue and White chairman and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.  "The children of Israel have lost long and important school days and we will continue to work to ensure that they are made up."

Education Minister Yoav Gallant praised the development and said children's "natural place" was in the classroom.

"The health system finally came to its senses and understood the importance of learning in the class for students and their families," Gallant wrote on Twitter. "Better late than never."

Earlier Monday, the Education Ministry reported a 30% decline in first- to third-graders' language and reading skills over the past year and a 25% decline in math and language skills among students in grades 4-6.

The Health Ministry Israel on Monday diagnosed a total of 217 new coronavirus cases, representing 0.4% of the 60,766 test results received that day, data showed.

A total of five people have died since Monday – three on Monday and two thus far on Tuesday – bringing the number of coronavirus deaths in Israel to 6,304.

Of the 3,369 people who currently have a confirmed case of coronavirus, 240 are in serious condition and 149 are in critical condition, the ministry said. The number of people on ventilators dropped from 133 on Monday to 121 on Tuesday.

In addition to the 826,588 who have contracted the coronavirus and recovered from it, 4,950,267 Israelis have received both doses of the vaccine and are considered fully immune to the virus.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Government votes to fully reopen schools, end 'capsule' system appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Israel's public school system will be completely back on track within a month, barring negative developments in the rate of new COVID cases, coronavirus coordinator Professor Nachman Ash said Monday.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

For the first time since the pandemic hit Israel in early 2020, government authorities have rolled out a detailed plan to fully reinstate in-school study for children in all grades.

The first stage of the plan, slated for implementation in approximately 10 days, will cancel the requirement for pods in grades 4-6 if it turns out that eliminating pods for 3^rd graders does not cause a spike in morbidity.

Pods will also be cancelled for middle schools, but only at institutions at which 75% of the students' parents agree to allow their children to be tested for COVID weekly.

The Health Ministry is also considering more flexibility to the conditions for cancelling the pod requirement for 11^th and 12^th-grade students and will eliminate pods in classes where at least 65% of the students have been vaccinated, rather than the minimum 90% previously stipulated.

The last stage of the plan is expected to launch in three to four weeks, if in-school COVID testing shows low morbidity among middle schoolers (7^th-9^th grade students), pods will be cancelled for these grades, as well, without the students having to undergo testing.

"We understand the need to reopen the school system and understand that the morbidity situation has changed, but on the other hand, we are doing this very responsibly," Ash said.

"I expect that it will take three to four weeks to examine what happens with the tests. If most of them are clean, I think we'll expand the school reopenings, and believe that a month from now the school system will be operating as usual," he added.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry is expected to discuss next week a recommendation to eradicate the mask mandate in open spaces, after a meeting of COVID experts determined that there was little risk of contracting the virus outside.

In a related development, the Health Ministry on Monday said that despite reports of a vaccine shortage, Israel had received another 380,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine, in addition to the 170,000 doses that were delivered this past weekend, Israel Hayom learned.

By the end of 2021, Israel is expected to receive 3 million more doses of the Moderna vaccine, in addition to the 110,000 doses that Israel has already administered to Palestinians working in Israel.

As of Tuesday morning, there were 5,042 active or symptomatic COVID-19 patients in Israel, a drop of 65 since midnight between Monday and Tuesday. Of those patients, 319 were in serious condition, including 195 hospitalized in critical condition. A total of 175 hospitalized patients were on ventilators.

A total of 55,508 tests were processed Monday resulting in 375 new confirmed cases.

Israel's death toll from COVID stands at 6,253, and the number of people who have received both doses of the COVID vaccine stood at 4,861,451 on Tuesday morning, with 5,277,886 having received the first dose.

 Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post 'Within a month, schools will be fully back on track' appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

A government meeting to discuss a possible reopening of the education system ended without a decision on the matter on Sunday, as Health Ministry and National Security Council officials in attendance warned the move could lead to a surge in coronavirus infections and hospitalizations.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

According to Health Ministry data, 4,560 of the 53,656 people tested for COVID-19 on  Sunday were found to be carrying the virus, for an infection rate of 8.8%.

As of Monday morning, Israel had 67,631 active cases of the coronavirus. At 1,121 cases, the number of seriously ill has declined and is now the lowest it has been since Jan. 9. Of those currently in serious condition, 316 were on ventilators. A total of 5,129 people have died of COVID-19 or complications there from since the pandemic reached Israel in early 2020.

Addressing the government meeting, physicist Eli Waxman of the National Security Council warned lifting restrictions imposed under Israel's third lockdown would lead to a "collapse of the ICUs. A large portion of patients in serious condition will not receive proper treatment, so more people may die," Channel 12 News reported.

"We are in a state of zero confidence margins. We are at the edge of the hospitalization system's capacity. We could have 10,000 deaths and 30,000 patients in serious condition. Opening [the education system] today is an irresponsible step that will take us beyond the margins," he warned.

While Immigration and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata stressed the urgency to reopen the struggling economy, other ministers called for caution as Health Ministry officials warned the younger population could develop serious illness, overwhelming hospital wards.

Part of this article was first published by i24NEWS.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories! 

The post Israel sees drop in number of seriously ill COVID patients appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

After a contentious meeting, the cabinet decided overnight Thursday to extend the current COVID restrictions until 7 a.m. Sunday after Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit cancelled an earlier decision to extend it until midnight between Sunday and Monday, at the request of Blue and White leader Benny Gantz.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Starting Sunday morning, the restriction on movement to 1,000 meters from one's home will be lifted. Sectors in which one service provider works on one client, such as hair and beauty salons, will be allowed to open, as will businesses that do not meet with the public.

Restaurants will now be allowed to offer takeout service.

No decision has yet been made about whether or not to open schools, and the cabinet is slated to vote on the matter by phone next week.

National parks and nature sites will reopen to the public, and bed and breakfast businesses will be allowed to accept reservations from nuclear families.

On Sunday, the cabinet is scheduled to meet to decide on a framework for when and how to allow businesses to reopen.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the agreement, saying, "It's good that the government accepted my and the Health Ministry's recommendations with only minor changes. The lockdown will continue until Sunday morning. I am asking the public to follow instructions carefully and get vaccinated. The vaccines work. The more people who are vaccinated, with an emphasis on those age 50 and over, the more we'll be able to gradually reopen the economy, with caution."

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said, "I'm happy that common sense won out. Public health comes above any political argument. We can't play games with people's lives. I am calling on every single person – even when we start gradually opening things on Sunday – to follow the regulations."

At the end of the meeting Gantz said, "Blue and White never blocked a lockdown when it was needed. It acted and will act responsibly."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post In last-minute decision, government extends lockdown until Sunday appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

A Knesset bill that would increase the fines issue to people caught violating Israel's COVID public health laws is slated to be presented to the Knesset for a first reading on Monday.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

On Saturday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin and asked him to promote the bill. The prime minister intends to expedite the legislation, apparently in response to public criticism over lax enforcement of the COVID restrictions in the Haredi sector.

The Corona cabinet previously approved the bill, but it stalled when it was initially brought to the Knesset, where it encountered opposition from the Haredi factions, who object to it mainly because it stipulates that any educational institution operating in violation of public health directives will be fined 20,000 shekels ($6,110), significantly more than the current fine of 5,000 shekels ($1,500) currently handed to schools that open illegally.

Netanyahu agreed to discuss the bill with Shas leader Aryeh Deri, United Torah Judaism leader Yakov Litzman, and head of the Knesset Finance Committee Moshe Gafni by last Wednesday or Thursday, but no such conversations took place.

Sources in the Haredi factions stressed on Saturday night that until their representatives could discuss the matter with Netanyahu, they would not budge.

One party source told Israel Hayom that there was a sense in the Haredi public that the bill was "political, directed at the Haredi sector."

"It taints them. We don't need to go crazy. We need enforcement. Schools that are open are fined," the source said.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Knesset to debate bill on heavier fines for COVID violations appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

With Israel's number of new confirmed COVID cases topping 1,000 for the first time in a month, Israel Hayom has reached out to public health experts to ask their opinions about the government's plans to lift more restrictions put in place as part of the second lockdown and send children in all grades back to school.

Many of the interviewees agreed that the government should stop opening more business and service sectors, and a few even recommended that this year's Hanukkah vacation be cancelled to avoid large gatherings in enclosed spaces.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Professor Ronit Calderon-Margalit of the School of Public Health at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem thinks that a distinction should be made between policies applied to schools and policies applied to businesses.

"For the sake of our children, we have to reopen the school system. Beyond that, the children study in designated placed and do not move from city to city, so we can map out 'red' and 'green' places and prepare accordingly. Only the teachers move around from town to town and from school to school, so we should be testing teachers a lot, but the schools themselves should be open, certainly in 'green' communities," Calderon-Margalit said.

"As far as business activity, we need to wait for the moment and not overburden the system, but see what effect the school reopenings have. We need to explain to the public that winter is here, big time, and that means flu and a greater burden on the health care system that needs to be taken into account. In addition, in winter people naturally congregate in warm places, crowd together, so reopening shopping malls right now would be a gamble," Calderon-Margalit added

The professor said that while she is not a fervent supporter of restrictions, COVID-19 is a dangerous illness and it would be a mistake to reopen all business activity at once, especially in the winter.

"If it were up to me, we would cancel the Hanukkah vacation so children won't flood into malls and shopping centers," she said, adding that if the decision were hers to make, she would not reopen gyms, restaurants, or any enclosed places where people might gather.

Professor Nadav Davidovitch, head of the School of Public Health at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and a member of the team of experts that is advising the government on COVID policy, thinks that the public should be involved in the process of reopening business activity, which should be carried out cautiously and not all at once.

"If we open everything right now, it could bring us to a very bad place. Because of winter, people tend to gather in enclosed spaces and that could lead to a major outbreak, so we shouldn't go crazy. However, we need to state what is allowed so the public has things to do. We should go back to the stoplight plan, with places graded red, orange, and green," Davidovitch said.

"We need to allow communities to execute local operations to reduce the number of cases, which means giving more power to local authorities. I'm certain that a small community can handle an outbreak very well, and that might be possible in big cities, too. But for that, we need to enlist COVID personnel and inspectors with authorities given to them by various municipalities, which will provide work for some of the unemployed," he explained.

Davidovitch said that pilot programs to reopen shopping malls should be allowed to proceed, and the results evaluated. He also called for extensive outreach, as the public's cooperation was a necessary component to any plan.

"People need to download the [Health Ministry's] Magen 2 app and cooperate with us," he said.

Davidovitch also noted that there were still diseases other than COVID that required care. "It's winter now, and there are a lot of patients with chronic illnesses who need care, we need to go on and vaccinate against measles, which is kind of limping along, and only close cooperation and caution will allow the health care system to move ahead with every aspect of public health care.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Rush to reopen will lead to another COVID outbreak, experts warn appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.