Drive-through coronavirus check
Drive-through coronavirus checkצילום: איתן אלחדז/TPS

Israel’s ministerial committee for restricted areas was set to convene at 2:00 p.m. Friday to deliberate on plans to extend lockdown restrictions on communities with high infection rates.

With key provisions of the ongoing lockdown set to end on Sunday, including the closure of kindergartens and preschools as well as the ban on non-essential travel beyond 1,000 meters from home, the committee is considering plans to extend the restrictions on “red cities”, or municipalities and neighborhoods with high infection rates.

Given the sharp decline in both the number of newly diagnosed cases and the percentage of positive tests – including in some towns with high infection rates - coronavirus czar Ronni Gamzu has recommended that the government drop Beit Shemesh, Kiryat Malachi, and several Jerusalem neighborhoods from the list of “red cities”.

Gamzu is also recommending that the lockdown restrictions be extended on the remaining “red cities” until this coming Wednesday, based on the estimate that no communities will remain with high levels of infection by Thursday.