Nighttime restrictions (archive)
Nighttime restrictions (archive)Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90

The Israeli Health Ministry is pushing for the government to impose tightened restrictions on public activity during the upcoming Purim holiday, according to a report by Channel 12 Sunday evening.

Senior health officials, including Health Ministry Director-General Hezi Levy, met Sunday to deliberate on which moves to recommend the government adopt.

During the meeting, Ministry officials decided to back a curfew for the Purim holiday, aimed at preventing mass gatherings.

Coronavirus Czar Nachman Ash warned against mass gatherings over the Purim holiday, including large festive meals bringing in people from other households.

“You can have prayers under the ‘green tag’ system, you can have festival holiday meals within the family – but large meals and parties and ‘tishes’ are completely forbidden and are dangerous to everyone’s health.”

“I call on everyone to avoid mass parties. The results are known ahead of time: more people infected, more sick people in serious condition, and a lengthy lockdown of the economy and education system.”

“If we have a wave of infections because of the holiday, we will need to close down the economy and education system once again, to the point of a lockdown.”