Netanyahu: We’ll extend lockdown, closure of airport beyond Sunday

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the government will extend the nationwide lockdown and the closure of Ben Gurion Airport — both of which are set to expire Sunday — during a meeting on Thursday.

He says the exact length of the extension will be determined by the infection rates, which have remained stubbornly high despite a three-week lockdown.

“We are protecting ourselves from the mutations. The British mutations is raging around the world and has also entered Israel. We managed to curb it. We must reduce it further and ensure that new mutations which we have yet to encounter don’t enter [the country],” says Netanyahu.

He also says Israel will block entry into the country from Jordan.

The prime minister makes the comments during a visit to a vaccination center in Sderot.