JERUSALEM – Israel went into a full blockade on Friday to see if it was an outbreak of coronavirus that has worsened for months as its government faced indecision and infighting.
The three-week closing, which began in the early afternoon, will require the closure of many businesses and will set strict limits for public meetings. The closures coincide with the main Jewish holidays, when others regularly stop in their families and gather for a giant prayer services.
In a speech Thursday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that even stricter measures may be needed to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed. There have been more than 46,000 active cases lately, of which at least 577 are hospitalized in serious condition.
“We may not yet have a selection to make the rules stricter,” Netanyahu said. Necessary. “
Under the new blockade, almost all businesses open to the public will be closed, people will have to stay within a kilometer (0. 6 miles) of their homes, however, there are several exceptions, such as buying food or medicine, going checkered in a personal company, attending sometimes and even looking for essential puppy care.
Israel has reported a total of more than 175,000 cases since the start of the epidemic, adding at least 1,169 deaths. It now reports around 5,000 new cases in line with the day, one of the world’s consistent infection rates.
Israel was one of the first countries to impose radical blockades this spring, sealing its borders, forcing a maximum of business to close and largely confineing others in their homes, reducing the number of new cases to just a few dozen a day in May.
But then the economy reopened and a new government was sworn in that was paralyzed by internal struggles. In recent months, the government has announced various restrictions only to see them ignored or canceled, even when new instances triumph at record levels.
The occupied West Bank has followed a similar trajectory, with a large spring close that contained its epidemic, followed by an increase in cases that forced the Palestinian Authority to impose a 10-day closure in July. The Palestinian Authority has reported more than 30,000 cases in the West Bank and around 240 deaths.
The Gaza Strip, which has been the subject of an Israeli-Egyptian blockade since the Islamic militant organization Hamas took the force of rival Palestinian forces in 2007, was first away from the pandemic, but the government detected a prolonged network last month, and there are now more than 1,700 active instances in the impoverished territory of 2 million more people , which depletes its already fragile fitness system. At least 16 other people died.
In Israel, the government has been criticized for its reaction to the virus and the economic crisis triggered by the latest lockout. Netanyahu, who is also being tried for corruption, has been the target of weekly outdoor protests at his official residence. -The Orthodox island community, which has a maximum infection rate, has also been alert to restrictions, i. e. those targeted by devotee meetings.
In Tel Aviv, many others protested the renewal of the closure on Thursday, adding doctors and scientists who said it would be ineffective.
Dr. Amir Shahar, head of an emergency branch in the city of Netanya and one of the organizers of the demonstration, said the closure was “disastrous” and would do “more harm than good. “
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