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Coronavirus: Israel heads into 'hermetic' lockdown after infection figures surge

<p>The cabinet met late into Wednesday night and concluded, not without huge disagreement, that a "hermetic" lockdown must be implemented by Friday.</p><p>The country's infection rate is by far the highest among known rates globally.</p><p><a href="https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-live-latest-uk-news-updates-as-covid-19-cases-spike-12071480" target="_blank"><strong>Live updates on coronavirus from UK and around the world</strong></a></p><p>Prime Minister <strong><a href="https://news.sky.com/topic/benjamin-netanyahu-6264" target="_blank">Benjamin Netanyahu</a></strong> told minsters: "I know that it is late but in more than one sense, we are facing the moment of truth.</p><p>"The number of severe cases is rising. To my sorrow, so is the number of deaths.</p><p>"Over the past two days we have heard from the experts that if we do not take tough and immediate measures, we will reach the edge of the abyss."</p> <p>Sky News analysis of data from the Johns Hopkins University shows that Israel currently has a daily infection rate of 55 cases per 100,000 (seven-day rolling average).</p><p>This compares with Spain at 24.2, Brazil with 11.8, and the United States with 13.6.</p><p>The data also shows that Israel has had the biggest global increase in infection rates over a 14-day period. The two-week infection rate doubled to 663.7 per 100,000, up by 340.5.</p> <p>About 54,000 tests were administered on Wednesday and 6,808 people, 13%, tested positive. That is the highest single day positive percentage since the outbreak of the pandemic.</p><p>The country's positivity rate is averaging 8%. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said it should be below 5% for a country to be able to control the virus.</p><p>It took Israel a steady six months to reach 100,000 confirmed coronavirus cases. The country was praised for its initial handling of the pandemic.</p><p>Yet, just 32 days after confirming its 100,000th case, the number had doubled to 200,000.</p><p>In line with global trends, the vast majority of cases are showing minor symptoms or are asymptomatic.</p><p>However, the sheer number of cases is now overwhelming hospitals and impacting the number of medical staff who are available to treat patients.</p> <p>Health ministry statistics show that among health workers nationally, cases surged from 722 on Monday to 1,697 on Wednesday. A further 4,331 medical staff are quarantined.</p><p>The existing lockdown, <strong><a href="https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-israel-becomes-first-country-in-the-world-to-impose-second-national-lockdown-12071369" target="_blank">only imposed last week</a></strong>, had restricted movement to within 1km of people's homes. However, rules for shops, businesses and places of worship were confusing, contradictory and not well enforced.</p><p>The new lockdown will come into effect at 2pm on Friday and last until at least 11 October. Only supermarkets and pharmacies will open.</p> <p>Synagogues will remain open only for the Yom Kippur holiday and protests will be limited to within 1km of the demonstrator's home in groups of 20.</p><p>Mr Netanyahu has been the focus of weeks of protests. His critics say he is trying to silence their calls for him to resign because of his handling of the crisis.</p><p>The country is struggling to implement an effective contact tracing system. The security establishment recently concluded that more than 50% of Israelis who are asked to quarantine violate their orders.</p><p>The pandemic has exposed huge fault-lines in Israel's political and social structure.</p><p>The complex coalition government is deeply divided over the restrictions, which are set to devastate the economy.</p> <p>Even the government-appointed corona tsar Professor Ronni Gamzu - who is known for his caution - took exception to the new restrictive measures.</p><p>"My recommendation was more moderate, to go for 50%," he is reported to have told the cabinet meeting.</p><p>Prime Minister Netanyahu responded: "We make decisions by dint of our responsibility and not only based on recommendations. The recommendations that we've gotten up until now have led us to a surge from 2,000 patients a day to 5,000 a day."</p>