Israel’s Health Ministry publicized the number of people who were infected by the Coronavirus over the weekend. On Friday, 1,506 people tested positive for having contracted the disease. There are currently 13,054 people in Israel who have the disease. Hospitals are currently treating 552 people with 314 of them in serious condition and 97 on respirators. Thus far, 2,901 people have died from the disease in Israel.

Israel’s Corona Cabinet has ratified the return of students from grades 7-9 back to school and learning in regular classrooms as opposed to learning via Zoom. According to the agreement, some 345,000 students will return to school, after not having seen the inside of the classroom since Rosh Hashanah. This will be the final step in returning all students to the classroom after the lockdown three months ago. The agreement allows for 20 students per classroom and classes will be taught in rotation with half the students at home and the other half in the classroom and all students attending classes in person at least twice a week. Teachers and principals expressed satisfaction at the proposal while many parents decried the proposal stating that it will give the students a sense of returning to school, without actually getting them to learn anything due to the constant changes and the lack of focus caused by the lack of structure.

The Corona cabinet will also vote on Sunday whether all people returning from Turkey will be forced to go into isolation at a Corona Hotel due to the fact that the Health Ministry discovered that many people were not respecting the regulations of forced isolation at home. The Corona cabinet will also be discussing other issues, such as a possible Chanukah lockdown of the country, which it appears will not take place and the possible announcement of another lockdown in one month’s time.

The Finance Ministry and the Deputy CEO of the Health Ministry will be presenting the Corona Cabinet with data showing how the pilot project of opening 15 malls ended in success without spiking the morbidity rate of Corona in the country. The Ministry and Deputy CEO will be recommending that the pilot project be expanded and that other malls be opened. According to the data, the capacity of the malls was 29% of the maximum capacity allowed according to the new regulations.

2,000 people protested near Paris Square outside the Prime Minister’s Residence on Balfour Street in Jerusalem for the weekly protests that have continued now for 25 weeks straight. During the protest, police arrested 20 people for disturbing the peace and blocking roads.

United Hatzalah volunteer EMTs and a Magen David Adom ambulance team treated a protester in Qiryat Ono who was hit by a car and left in serious condition. United Hatzalah EMT Meir Shelo, who was the first responder at the scene relayed, “The man was seriously injured when he was hit by a private car. I treated him for his injuries at the scene after which he was transported by an ICU ambulance to the hospital in serious condition.” The man was later pronounced dead at Sheba Hospital in Tel HaShomer due to the severity of the injuries that he suffered. He was identified as Dror Sofer, an 82-year-old resident of Savyon. The driver was detained by the police who said that there was no suspicion of the incident being perpetrated on purpose.

A powerful earthquake shook the eastern Mediterranean. The Epicenter of the earthquake, which measured 5.4 on the Richter scale, took place in south-west Turkey and was felt in northern Israel.

Highway 90 between Dragot and Ein Bokek was closed to traffic due to possible flash floods in the area. The flooding was a result of the heavy rains that fell mid-day on Shabbos. The Ein Gedi national park as well as others in the area were closed. The storm also brought the first snow that fell at the Ski-Resort on the Hermon Mountain range this winter. Temperatures on the northern part of the mountain dropped to 0 degrees Celsius (32 Fahrenheit).

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)