The festive holiday of Sukkot begins at sundown this evening, although celebration will be curtailed by the ongoing national lockdown against the raging coronavirus pandemic.
The Knesset Committee on Constitution, Law and Justice Committee officially has approved the latest government measures, including limitation on public demonstrations to just 20 people who can only attend protests within one kilometer of their residences.
The Health Ministry reported a slight drop in daily coronavirus cases today with 7,639 people testing positive for the disease, following yesterday’s record-breaking high of 9,000 diagnoses yesterday. 70,942 Israelis are currently battling the virus, of whom 809 are in critical condition. The country’s fatality rate has climbed to 1,629 since the coronavirus outbreak.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his warning that the government will consider extending the severe closure on Monday if there has not been a significant improvement in curbing the contagion within the initially-slated three weeks to a month or even longer.
In a message posted on his official Facebook page, the Israeli leader said the decision “will be determined according to data and not stronghandedly or on a whim.”
He then repeated that “We are at war, a difficult war against the coronavirus.”