The head of Public Health Services, Dr. Sharon Alray-Price, gave a press conference on Sunday evening regarding the efficacy of the current lockdown and noted that morbidity data seem encouraging at the present time.
“We are now seeing the first signs of gaining control over the epidemic,” she said. “We have formulated an outline for preventing another lockdown. The figures from today are very encouraging – we have less than a thousand new confirmed cases – but of course those are weekend figures [which are usually lower] and so we still have to be very cautious.”
Price added that, “We know by now that there is indeed a drop in rates of contagion. We hope that if things continue this way, we’ll see a drop in the number of serious cases soon as well.”
Price also presented the Health Ministry’s tentative plans for emerging from lockdown, although the government has yet to make concrete decisions. “We’re going to wait at least two weeks between each stage of easing the restrictions,” she said. “We’re not going to repeat the mistakes of the previous time.”
According to her, the first to reopen will be outdoor public spaces, followed by workplaces and businesses that do not receive customers or clients. The requirement to remain within 1,000 meters of one’s place of residence is also likely to be dropped in the first stage, she said. Dr. Price also mentioned changes to public transportation, saying that services would return to a regular timetable but would only be permitted to accommodate 50% of full capacity.
Addressing the school system, Dr. Price said that studies would not be resuming next week. Speaking earlier today, Prime Minister Netanyahu mentioned preschools and daycare, intimating that they would be among the first on the list to reopen, but he did not specify a date, instead stressing that the lockdown would be eased in a very gradual manner.