Israel’s cabinet on Thursday prepared to vote on a nationwide weekend lockdown to curb a resurgence of COVID-19 cases.
An urgent meeting of ministers and health officials convened on Thursday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to impose a series of measures including a lockdown during the weekends, reports Xinhua news agency.
The Israeli cabinet is expected to convene later to approve the new measures.
If approved, shopping malls, gyms, and beaches will be closed, while gatherings of more than 10 people will be prohibited during the weekends, from Friday to Sunday morning.
Netanyahu said in a statement that he convened the urgent meeting “following the jump in morbidity to around 1,800 cases and the sharp increase in the doubling of the number of severe cases every seven days”.
Israel is facing a resurgence of a COVID-19 outbreak with a record-high number of daily cases.
On Wednesday, 1,828 new cases were diagnosed, bringing the total number of cases to 44,188.
It was the second-largest daily increase since February and came only two days after a record of 1,962 daily new cases were reported.
Last week, thousands of Israelis took to street to protest against what they say is economic hardship caused by the government’s mishandling of the coronavirus crisis.
Many are experiencing economic hardship and have been angered by coronavirus measures which have taken their livelihoods away.
Earlier, Netanyahu met activists to discuss their frustrations and said, “We will meet our commitments including hastening the immediate payments that we want to give you,” his office quoted him as telling them.
Israel imposed a strict lockdown in mid-March but started lifting restrictions in late May. Unemployment has risen to 21 per cent.