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JERUSALEM – Israel announced on Thursday that it will impose a nationwide lockdown starting next week, it is the third part of the COVID-19 pandemic, just days after vaccines against the virus began.
“A general lockdown will be imposed starting at 17:00 (1500 GMT) on Sunday for two weeks,” said a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
“There is the option to extend the lockdown for an additional two weeks unless the basic reproduction number (of the virus) falls below 1 and the number of new cases per day falls below 1,000.”
Israelis will be prohibited from traveling more than a kilometer from their homes and businesses will be closed except for deliveries.
Exceptions will be made for those traveling to receive vaccinations and schools will remain partially open for some age groups.
The new lockdown comes after a sharp spike in the infection rate since the last lockdown in September, when the per capita infection rate was among the highest in the world.
In a population of nine million, Israel has confirmed 385,022 coronavirus cases, 3,150 of them fatal.
Israel launched a nationwide inoculation program on Monday after receiving a first shipment of the vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
On Wednesday, the Health Ministry confirmed four cases of a new strain of Covid-19 that emerged in southern England and that British health officials believe is spreading faster.
In response, Israel this week banned foreigners from arriving from Britain, Denmark or South Africa, where a separate new strain has emerged.
It also imposed a mandatory quarantine for all arrivals from abroad.
