Checking the temperature of a factory worker
Checking the temperature of a factory workerREUTERS/Eloy Alonso

Hi-tech, industry, and finance workers will be among the first to return to work, according to a draft of the lockdown exit plan presented by the Finance Ministry on Saturday night.

The draft, which will be presented to ministers, would have Israelis returning to work gradually, beginning immediately after the Passover holiday, in order to avoid a collapse of the economy.

The Finance Ministry staff also suggested examining the possibility of gradually reopening schools and public transportation in a limited fashion, in order to limit the potential of a resurgence of coronavirus.

According to Kan News, the draft is the most comprehensive to be submitted to the National Security Council, and the staff working on it includes economists, physicists, and security experts who discussed the possibility of canceling summer break. The staff also discussed the possibility of canceling recess when children return to school, and splitting classes into significantly smaller classes to reduce the chance of infection.

The staff divided businesses into "green," "yellow," and "red" categories. "Green" category businesses are those which provide necessary products despite the economic crisis, and "red" category businesses are those which even if they return to work, are not in demand at the moment, such as tourism.

The report also said that the Finance Ministry is evaluating the possibility of allowing businesses and restaurants to open in a differential fashion.

According to the report's estimates, over 400,000 of the more than one million Israelis currently unemployed will not return to work even after the lockdown ends. This estimate is double that of an earlier estimate by the Employment Services that 200,000 Israelis would not be able to return to work after the lockdown ended.