In light of encouraging data in both cities, Health Ministry to lift restrictions on Jerusalem and Bnei Brak beginning at midnight tonight.
Arutz Sheva Staff , 19/04/20 22:33
The closure imposed on Bnei Brak and Jerusalem will end tonight at midnight, and the mayors of the two cities have pledged that at least half of the remaining patients in the cities will be transferred to hotels by the end of the week.
In light of this, the Health Ministry will formulate a new outline for the closure of the closure in both cities. A discussion will be held tomorrow morning.
The Heath Ministry’s statement reads that Health Minister Yaakov Yitzhak, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri and Health Ministr director Moshe Bar Siman Tov made the decision to lift the restrictions “in light of encouraging preliminary data in the cities of Bnei Brak and Jerusalem with positive signs and indications.”
After the mayors of Bnei Brak and Jerusalem pledged to spend at least half of the city’s remaining patients into hotels by the end of the week, the ministry decided to formulate an outline for the cities to ease the closure that will end at midnight tonight.
The number of coronavirus patients in Israel is 13,491 people. The death toll stands at 172. According to the Health Ministry, there are 146 hospitalized patients in serious condition, of whom 109 are respirators. The number of serious patients fell by 9% in the last day. 142 patients are in moderate condition. 3,754 Israelis have recovered from Corona.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Rafi Peretz announced in an interview with Channel 12 Newsthis evening that “there will be no escape from school being extended into July.” “You can’t have everyone else working and only the teachers on vacation. In August, summer vacation will continue as planned,” he said.
According to Peretz, as part of upcoming measures to restart the national economy, the Education Ministry is keen on having “kindergartens reopened in small supervised frameworks of 7-8 kids per preschool”. He added: “Grades 1-3 will attend classes 4-5 days a week, and grades 4-6 two to three a week – other grades will continue online learning.”
Regarding a statement from the teachers’ union that they would only agree to work nine days over the span of summer break, the Minister of Education said: “There is an outline that the Treasury has defined, and there is an outline the Union wants to see – we as the Ministry should act as the middle ground and establish a balance between the parties so that teachers know they’re getting their salaries—but not all of it.”
Regarding the difficulty many students are experiencing in distance learning, Peretz said, “We have tried to offer a very large range of courses on television through Cellcom TV and Hot TV for around a million households – both via smartphones and computers.”
“I spoke to the Prime Minister about the need to provide computers to disadvantaged populations such as the haredi and Arab sectors. We are trying to obtain NIS 50 million for this purpose.”