Just 10 days after being sworn into office, the coalition is under attack by former government members over its handling of the coronavirus.
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Former Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kisch of the Likud party blasted the new government as "impotent," saying it wasn't doing anything to tackle the renewed outbreak of the virus in an interview with the Kan public broadcaster, Thursday morning.
Israel's infection rate stood at 0.3%, Thursday morning after 138 new cases of the coronavirus were identified Wednesday. There are 680 active cases, 26 of which are serious. Of those in serious condition, 18 are on ventilators.
While 833,094 Israelis have recovered from the virus since the outbreak of the pandemic, 6,429 have died.
Noting he was "very concerned," Kisch told the Kan broadcaster: "They need to stop taking photos and decide."
"For every day that you don't do something, you pay a price. When we in the government heard about the British variant, we brought planes back that were in the air," he said.
"We will do the maximum to bring down this bad coalition," Kisch said.
On Wednesday, the coalition government reinstated the coronavirus cabinet and said plans to tackle the recent outbreak would soon be announced.
Following localized outbreaks in Binyamina and Modiin, 39 students at several schools in the Tel Aviv-suburb of Kfar Saba were found to be carrying the coronavirus, Wednesday.
Hundreds of students in the city entered quarantine as the Kfar Saba Municipality reinstated mask-wearing requirements in the city's schools in an effort to prevent further infections.
Eighteen infections were also reported among students in the nearby town of Kochav Yair-Tzur Yigal. There are currently 81 residents in quarantine. Local authorities have ordered all students in the community from first grade through fifth grade to wear masks while in school.
In a statement, Kfar Saba Mayor Rafi Saar said: "Last night, we ordered the city's education system to return to mask-wearing, both in class and at graduation parties. This order is necessary given the increase in the number of verified patients and is necessary to block the virus. From the very beginning of [our efforts] to contend with the coronavirus, we took steps that kept Kfar Saba a "green" city [in accordance with the Health Ministry's traffic-light system for ranking localities according to infection rates], and we will continue to do that now. Kfar Saba managed the coronavirus in a conservative and aggressive way that proved itself and now too, we will continue to manage the situation responsibly."
Health Ministry Director-General Hezi Levy, coronavirus chief Nachman Ash, and the head of Public Health Services at the Health Ministry Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis were set to hold a press conference on the uptick in infections over the last 24 hours, Thursday night.
'Public safety takes precedence over prayers'
While no order has yet been issued on mandatory mask-wearing in Binyamina and Modiin, synagogues across the country are grappling with concerns worshippers may be spreading the virus during prayers.
In the absence of any clear government guidelines, the World Organization of Orthodox Communities and Synagogues recommended congregants wear face masks.
"We call on synagogues and community heads to recommend worshippers go back to wearing masks during prayers following the increase in morbidity and the recommendation by professionals to wear masks in closed spaces," the organization said.
At the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem, which serves as a magnet for tourists from both Israel and overseas, officials have decided not to take any chances. "We made the decision to bring back masks starting this Saturday," the synagogue's acting director-general Zalman Jaffe said.
"We were the first to close the synagogue in the first wave [of the coronavirus outbreak], although there was an uproar, and we were forced to explain ourselves to every radio and TV station in the world, including Al Jazeera, but it was the right decision. We aren't waiting for guidelines, but rather taking the initiative out of the understanding public safety takes precedence over prayers. Right now, we aren't thinking about closing the synagogue, although there are undoubtedly concerns about that," he said.
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