The Shin Bet security agency will be taking steps to locate the immediate family members of confirmed COVID carriers who do not cooperate with the contact tracing process or are suspected of lying about not having contact with anyone since contracting the virus.
The decision to use Shin Bet tools to track families of COVID carriers was made after the IDF Home Front Command was astonished to find that some 30% of virus carriers either refused to cooperate with contact tracers or reported that they had "no" contact with anyone else in the days prior to testing positive.
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Deeming those numbers unlikely, the Home Front Command and the Shin Bet began cooperating on Tuesday to locate and test all these carriers' immediate family members.
The personal details of COVID carriers defined as having reported suspect information will be sent to the Health Ministry to be checked, and if there is reasonable suspicion that the carriers were in contact with relatives, the Shin Bet will step in to clarify their status.
The method being employed is classified and is different from the cell phone tracking authorized by the government thus far.
If family members of COVID carriers are located, they will be contacted by text message, instructed to quarantine themselves, and be tested for the virus.
The new steps to overcome reluctance to report contacts was announced on Tuesday while Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen was touring the Home Front Command's COVID crisis management headquarters.
While there, Cohen received an overview of what the IDF is doing to cut off outbreaks. The minister also met with deputy head of the Home Front Command Brig. Gen. Nissan Davidi, as well as with members of the Health Ministry, the privacy authority, and the Shin Bet.
During the meeting, Davidi suggested taking additional enforcement action following the contact tracing process.
Another issue raised during Cohen's visit was the idea of using technology, rather than police visits, to enforce quarantine. This would include video contact with COVID carriers in quarantine to confirm that they are where they are supposed to be.
"The Home Front Command is preparing itself. 2,800 contact tracers along with Shin Bet tracking tools and new digital methods will ensure that we continue to reduce the number of new cases," Cohen said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz agreed on Tuesday night to keep the current lockdown in effect until midnight of Oct. 18 (Sunday). This means that daycare centers and nursery schools will not open on Sunday morning.
Netanyahu and Gantz also agreed that on Thursday, they would revisit the question of easing some of the restrictions now in place, starting Monday, Oct. 19.
However, the state of emergency was cancelled as of midnight Tuesday, and starting Wednesday evening, both protests and prayers will be allowed at a distance of more than 1 km. from a person's home.
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The Corona cabinet also decided that the closure on aviation and travel abroad would remain in effect until Thursday, although the cabinet was expected to hold another discussion about travel on Wednesday.
The Corona cabinet decided that people may now leave their homes to attend relatives' weddings, if the wedding is held in the open air and no more than 20 people participate.
While there are signs that much of Israel will begin transitioning out of the lockdown, some red cities will remain shuttered due to their high COVID numbers.
Cities and towns coded "red" under the Health Ministry's stoplight plan – including some neighborhoods in Jerusalem, as well as Beit Shemesh and Ashdod – will not enjoy any release of the current restrictions.
The Jerusalem Municipality is working to bring down the number of COVID positives in the city, but as of Tuesday evening, the Neveh Yaakov and Ramat Shlomo neighborhoods were still red.
"Neveh Yaakov is a mixed neighborhood, where 75% of the residents are Haredi," said chairman of the neighborhood community administration Eli Yaakobi.
"Everyone wears masks. We are making the effort, but conditions are crowded and people ride buses a lot," Yaakobi added.
In Beit Shemesh, which was a hotspot for clashes between Haredi and secular residents long before the coronavirus crisis, divides among the residents are growing deeper.
"The general public is angry because large parts of the Haredi public are knowingly disobeying the public health rules. We aren't talking about radical sects like Neturi Karta, but rather the Haredi mainstream," said Beit Shemesh resident Gadi Damari.
Ashdod reported 141 new confirmed cases on Tuesday. According to residents, Haredi kollels were open and operating.
"Sometimes it seems as if the Haredim do whatever they want," residents said.
Betar Illit and Modi'in Illit were preparing for the lockdown to continue. Sources in local government said that private schools would open on Monday, Oct. 19, no matter what.
Yori Yalon, Shlomi Diaz, Efrat Forsher, and Gadi Golan contributed to this report.
