Israel has announced it will be going into a national lockdown for the second time amid a new surge in Coronavirus cases. Israel fighting off a major death toll, now records over 4000 cases of the deadly virus daily.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the announcement in a televised speech on Sunday, September 13 saying from Friday, the eve of the Jewish New Year, schools, restaurants, shopping centres and hotels will shut down and restrictions on movement will be imposed. Mr Netanyahu said:
‘Our goal is to stop the increase (in cases) and lower morbidity.’
‘I know that these steps come at a difficult price for all of us. ‘This is not the holiday we are used to.’
The tightening of measures marks the second time Israel has gone into a lockdown. The lockdown will remain in place for at least three weeks, at which point officials are expected to relax measures if cases decline.
Israel has had more than 150,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases and more than 1,100 deaths amongst its population of nine million.
