Israel is set to impose its third nationwide lockdown since the start of the pandemic.
The lockdown aimed at tackling the COVID-19 resurgence will begin at 5 p.m. and last for at least two weeks, though health officials have indicated it would likely be extended to a month.
The closure comes as daily coronavirus cases climbed steeply upward, surpassing 3,000 a day, amid fears that a British variant of the disease could be spreading undetected in the country.
Israelis, wearing protective masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, shop in the central market of Israel’s coastal city of Netanya on December 27, 2020, ahead of a thrid lockdown. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)
The lockdown rules will bar Israelis from entering another person’s home; restrict movement to 1 kilometer from home, with exceptions, such as for vaccinations; shut down commerce, leisure and entertainment (except for essentials); limit public transportation to 50% capacity; and limit workplaces that do not deal with customers face-to-face to 50% capacity.
Fines for those breaking rules stand at NIS 500 ($155).
After the Knesset Education Committee rejected government regulations that would have kept students in grades 5-10 at home for remote learning, all schools are set to remain open throughout the lockdown.
Discover Israel's most beloved poet
She died more than four decades ago, but Leah Goldberg remains a magnetic and enigmatic figure: Israel’s most beloved poet, a powerful woman who lived with her mother and never married, who reinvented herself from the ashes of World War I through her magical writing.
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From the Liveblog of
Sunday, December 27, 2020
