Coronavirus: Israel celebrates Jewish New Year with a second lockdown

Just as people begin to mark the beginning of the Jewish New Year, Israel is entering another nationwide lockdown to stem the rising coronavirus cases.

Rosh Hashanah is traditionally a time for big, family recipients.

But under the new three-week lockdown, Israelis must, within exceptions, stay within 1 km (0.6 miles) of their homes, and the number of people allowed in synagogues has been greatly reduced.

Israel currently has the highest Covid-19 infection rate in the world.

In the past week, new cases have reached a daily high of more than 1,000, and the country’s leaders have apologized for failing to contain the epidemic.

Kovid-19 has killed 1,169 people and infected 177,000 in Israel, according to global figures from the American University Johns Hopkins.

It is said to be the first developed nation to re-impose nationwide curbs.

However, the local national lockdown is not widely popular, according to local media, with protests taking place before it is implemented.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that he will not hesitate to impose tougher sanctions if necessary.

The sanctions, which took effect at 1:14 p.m. local time, are the most widespread in Israel since the first lockdown, which lasted from late March to early May.

Under the new restrictions:

Mr Netanyahu has acknowledged that the lockdown will cause religious holidays to be celebrated in Jewish communities that usually come with families.

“This kind of holiday is not our habit, and we will not be able to celebrate with our extended families,” he said.

Restrictions on indoor gatherings will greatly affect prayers in synagogues.

The second lockdown will hurt the economy, which is in recession due to the epidemic, an estimated 5 6.5 billion (4 1.4 billion ;; 1.9bn), the finance ministry said.

“We are making every effort to balance health and economic needs,” Mr Netanyahu said in a televised address on Thursday.

Few people here in Jerusalem dispute the need for a tougher approach, but there is frustration about how the government has handled the crisis. Unemployment has risen and many businesses are failing.

Moshe Schreffler’s popular restaurant in Yehuda Market was empty just before the lockdown and recently saw a 70% drop in business.

“[With] Close to this, I hope they end this story once and for all, ”he says.

But Shiban Ben Yossi’s baby twin mother has recently lost her job and is less optimistic.

“It’s going to be very difficult,” he says. “I’m afraid it won’t work the first time and it won’t work the second time.”

Israel was praised internationally for its effective, tight control at the beginning of the epidemic.

But it is widely seen to have taken off very quickly and now has the highest infection rate in the world.

On Wednesday, President Reuven Rivlin apologized for failing to contain the virus by the country’s leaders after the first lockdown ended.

But he also appealed to the Israelis to follow the new step: “This is a second chance and we must take it because we are afraid, we will not get a third.”

Interior Minister Yaakov Litzman resigned from the government on Sunday in protest of the new measures.

Mr Litzmann, who heads the extremist Jewish party, said the lockdown would prevent Jews, including Yom Kippur, from celebrating their religious holidays on September 27, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

Many nations are experiencing another outbreak of the virus. However, most governments are now imposing smaller local lockdowns than blankets nationally in the affected areas.