Defense Minister Benny Gantz says he will push for Israel to roll back lockdown measures and allow businesses that are not client-facing to reopen, should infection numbers continue to slump.
The Blue and White leader says he will also move for schools to be opened for younger grades after the Sukkot holiday break ends.
The comments, widely carried in Hebrew media, comes moments before the cabinet is set to meet on possible plans to exit from the national lockdown.
Health Ministry officials have pushed for a slow, staged rollback. According to the reports, the reopening would take place in stages, with two or three weeks between each stage.
Israel has seen new infection numbers fall along with massively lowered testing, but the percentage of positive tests, seen as a key indicator, has also slackened slightly over the last few days.
There are still nearly 900 seriously ill patients in the hospital, and officials note that the infection rate in Israel remains among the highest in the world.
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From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 5, 2020
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