The Coronavirus Cabinet convened Thursday evening to discuss the possibility of declaring a full-scale lockdown over the High Holidays in light of the increased coronavirus morbidity rates in Israel.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting that Israel should institute a lockdown for two-three weeks and then gradually reduce restrictions. "We need to start strong and then start to relax," Netanyahu said.
Construction and Housing Minister Yaakov Litzman told the prime minister: "You are ruining the holidays. It is better to just continue with the night curfews in the red cities."
Netanyahu replied: "We are not ruining anything, but we are working against a serious illness with a serious death count."
Finance Minister Yisrael Katz, who opposes a lockdown, also called for a nightly curfew. According to him, imposing a full lockdown is a decision that does not consider the economy. "This is a move that takes into account both the economy and health, and in this way it is also possible to ensure that the health system does not reach a state of inability" to handle the increase in the number of patients.