Coronavirus czar says 4th lockdown ‘absolutely possible’

Coronavirus czar Nachman Ash says that a fourth national lockdown is “absolutely possible” despite Israel’s vast vaccination campaign.

Speaking with Channel 12 news, Ash says the decision to reopen Ben Gurion Airport to allow Israelis into the country to vote in the March 23 elections was “far from ideal” and “brings with it the risk that virus variants will come into Israel.”

He says the next few weeks may see an increase in virus rates due to the reopening of the economy and last week’s Purim festival.

“We have a few critical weeks ahead of us. We will have to see if there is an increase in morbidity. It’s absolutely possible that we will see more seriously ill, we may need to impose further restrictions, and we may even have to impose another lockdown,” he says.