Coronavirus: Israel to impose three-week national lockdown | BBC News -
"September 14, 2020 - "Israel is to impose a new national lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus - with tough restrictions coming into effect on Jewish new year. The country's second lockdown begins on Friday and lasts at least three weeks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the measures would "exact a heavy price on us all", but the country faced a surge with 4,000 new daily infections....
"The measures he announced will be the most extensive imposed in Israel since the first lockdown, which ran from late March until early May, and include:
- No more than 10 people can meet indoors while groups of 20 are allowed outdoors
- Schools and shopping centres will close, and
- Israelis must stay within 500 metres of their homes with the exception of travelling to workplaces
- Non-governmental offices and businesses can stay open but must not accept customers....
"The second lockdown will cost the economy, which is in recession due to the pandemic, an estimated 6.5bn shekels ($1.88bn), the finance ministry says."
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-54134869
State virus adviser slams lockdown as ‘stupidest and most hazardous solution’ | Times of Israel - Nathan Jeffay:
September 16, 2020 - "Israel’s new lockdown is the 'stupidest and most hazardous solution' to its coronavirus woes, according to doctors union chief Hagai Levine, a member of the coronavirus czar’s expert panel. While Ronni Gamzu, the virus point man he advises, has backed the closure, which starts Friday, Levine is resolutely opposed, insisting that, contrary to the warnings of some hospital heads, the health system isn’t in danger of meltdown and therefore the step isn’t justified.
"Despite strong condemnation from business leaders and criticism from opposition politicians, the government has taken the view that with cases spiraling, and hospitalizations rising, a lockdown is the only option.... But Levine, an epidemiologist, told The Times of Israel that Israel needs to fight the virus by changing the public’s conduct for the duration of the pandemic, not by investing hopes in a three-week lockdown....
"Levine works on predictions for the pandemic with two Hebrew University experts on stats and modeling. One of them, economist David Gershon, told The Times of Israel he is convinced that the closure won’t bring the desired results, and the government will end up deploying a third lockdown. 'They are destroying the country, but we’ll be back in the same situation soon,' Gershon said....
"Proponents of the lockdown say it is good for the general health of the nation, by protecting the health system from becoming overstretched. But Levine, confident that the health system has capacity to cope, says they are wrong.... Gershon acknowledged that there is alarm over high infection rates, but said they are not translating to hospitals being pushed to over capacity....
"There are currently 535 coronavirus patients in serious condition, and it has been widely suggested that hospitals will struggle if they have upwards of 1,000 such cases. Noting that hospital officials have said that staffing, not physical space, is their main challenge, Gershon said that the state is able to deploy extra staff, as it would in the case of a natural disaster, and should quickly invest in manpower in order to quell fears of the system being overwhelmed.... He added: 'The country has to learn to live with COVID-19… We need to be able to live with even 2,000 patients in serious situation.... The people who want to see zero, or 200, new cases a day aren’t being realistic. Under 500 also isn’t going to happen. The virus is not stoppable, so we have to learn to live with it.”
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