After a contentious meeting, the cabinet decided overnight Thursday to extend the current COVID restrictions until 7 a.m. Sunday after Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit cancelled an earlier decision to extend it until midnight between Sunday and Monday, at the request of Blue and White leader Benny Gantz.
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Starting Sunday morning, the restriction on movement to 1,000 meters from one's home will be lifted. Sectors in which one service provider works on one client, such as hair and beauty salons, will be allowed to open, as will businesses that do not meet with the public.
Restaurants will now be allowed to offer takeout service.
No decision has yet been made about whether or not to open schools, and the cabinet is slated to vote on the matter by phone next week.
National parks and nature sites will reopen to the public, and bed and breakfast businesses will be allowed to accept reservations from nuclear families.
On Sunday, the cabinet is scheduled to meet to decide on a framework for when and how to allow businesses to reopen.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the agreement, saying, "It's good that the government accepted my and the Health Ministry's recommendations with only minor changes. The lockdown will continue until Sunday morning. I am asking the public to follow instructions carefully and get vaccinated. The vaccines work. The more people who are vaccinated, with an emphasis on those age 50 and over, the more we'll be able to gradually reopen the economy, with caution."
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said, "I'm happy that common sense won out. Public health comes above any political argument. We can't play games with people's lives. I am calling on every single person – even when we start gradually opening things on Sunday – to follow the regulations."
At the end of the meeting Gantz said, "Blue and White never blocked a lockdown when it was needed. It acted and will act responsibly."
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