Those localities designated as "red cities" due to their high coronavirus infection rate, approximately half of which are in the Arab sector, will be placed under quarantine on Monday.
"During an entire month we were at a high but stable rate of infection," Netanyahu said. "During the last few days we have seen a dramatic rise in this rate and so decided in a corona cabinet meeting to make a concerted effort to immediately stop this sharp increase in coronavirus cases.
"Infection is spreading within the red cities as well as when the residents of those cities travel to other parts of the country," Netanyahu added.