Coronavirus cases continued to appear in Israeli schools across the country on Wednesday and at least seven additional schools were closed, with a total of about 43 schools closed across Israel in the past week.

Since Tuesday, an additional 2,600 students and staff entered quarantine. About 255 students and staff members have been diagnosed with the virus.

In a Hadera high school, two students were diagnosed with the virus and all 2,196 students, 217 teachers and 33 administrative employees were sent into quarantine. One student and a teacher had already been diagnosed with the virus earlier this week.

In Jerusalem, two students at the Salisberg High School tested positive for the virus and the school was closed down. Another student at the Zalmar Aran school tested positive on Wednesday after two students were already diagnosed earlier this week. The school has already been closed.

In Tel Aviv, three schools were closed after one student in each school was diagnosed with the virus.

In Ashkelon, a student in a Dati Leumi high school was diagnosed with the virus, sending 580 students and 100 staff members into quarantine.

The mayor of Bat Yam announced on Wednesday morning that he closed down two high schools in the city after three students were diagnosed with the coronavirus.

In Be’er Sheva, a high school was closed after a student tested positive for the virus and 1,010 students were sent into quarantine. In south Tel Aviv, two elementary schools, each with about 350 students, were closed.

In the Bedouin town of Hura, the head of the municipality is considering closing its 18 schools after one student was diagnosed with the virus since several of the teachers work at multiple schools. Hura has had a spike of new infections in the past week. At the beginning of May, two neighborhoods in Hura were put under lockdown due to a high infection rate.

Despite Netanyahu’s decision to keep the schools open on Wednesday, many schools decided to resume long-distance learning or continue school in a safer way by separating the children into smaller groups.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)