Israel Imposes Local Closures as Number of COVID-19 Infections Continues to Climb

Jerusalem, 2 July, 2020 (TPS) -- The Ministerial Committee on Declaring Restricted Zones convened on Wednesday evening and decided to declare several areas within cities across the country as “restricted zones,” as the number of documented Coronavirus (COVID-19) patients in Israel continued to climb.

The Committee announced that in the city of Ashdod, the neighborhoods of Gimmel, Zayin and Chet were declared Restricted Zones, as well the Rechevet, Snir and Neveh Shalom neighborhoods in Lod.

The declaration of these neighborhoods as “restricted zones” is in effect for seven days.

Entry and exit to and from the restricted zones are limited, as will be traffic and businesses within these areas.

In addition, Health Ministry Director-General Hezi Levy will sign an order limiting the activity of educational institutions and gatherings in the city of Beitar Ilit.

The number of documented COVID-19 patients in Israel continued to rise at an alarming pace with 967 new cases in the past 24 hours, the highest number recorded in a day since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The Ministry of Health updated Wednesday evening that there are 8,483 active patients in Israel, including 57 in serious condition, of them 24 are on life support.

Since the beginning of the outbreak in the country, 26,257 people have been diagnosed with the virus and 17,452 people have recovered. 322 have died.

19,896 tests were conducted on Tuesday, with 4.86% of them returning positive.

Since the beginning of the week, 2,774 new patients have been diagnosed, twice as many as in all of May.