Ministers to vote on plan to impose even tighter lockdown, cutting back on permits for workers to leave their homes during lockdown.

Israel’s Coronavirus Cabinet is set to meet Monday morning to vote on plans to tighten the nationwide lockdown which was imposed this past Friday.

The cabinet is expected to approve a proposal to drastically cut back the number of businesses permitted to operate during the lockdown, barring a larger number of workers from leaving home during the nationwide closure than was initially planned.

If approved, the plan to be considered Monday would bar all factories which do not produce “essential” goods from operating during the lockdown.

In addition, the Coronavirus Cabinet is expected to consider increasing enforcement of the limits on the number of worshippers permitted at synagogues.

The plan comes as a team of researchers from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem released a report suggesting a significant increase in the number of coronavirus-related fatalities in Israel, even with the existing lockdown in place. With the current lockdown, the report claims, one to two thousand additional fatalities are expected by November.

The lockdown, which began last Friday afternoon, is tentatively scheduled to last for three weeks, though senior health officials have suggested it may be extended until there is a significant decrease in the number of new infections diagnosed per day.

(Arutz 7).