Coronavirus lockdown on its way – doctors: no epidiomological logic

Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit said Thursday afternoon that to date he has not been consulted about the legality of the government announcing a second national lockdown. He said he will present his position to the cabinet Thursday evening after learning about the initiative through the media.

“Following the jump in morbidity to about 1,800 patients and the steep rise in the doubling of the critically ill every seven days, I now spoke with the Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, head of the National Security Council Meir Ben-Shabbat and with Science and Technology Minister Yizhar Shai on the need for a general closure,” Netanyahu said.Instead, the prime minister said, these interim steps would be taken in hopes of staving off a complete lockdown.Other restrictions set to be approved: Beaches and malls will be closed and summer camps will be closed beginning Sunday.The decision to meet immediately came as the Health Ministry released the day’s numbers, which represented a new peak: 1,898 in a single day on Wednesday. According to the report, Israel broke 200 people in serious condition. The closure is expected to go into effect on Friday morning and last until Sunday morning. The other restrictions will also last the same period. The goal, according to insiders is to get down to 400 new patients per day by August 31. In early September, the government will re-assess. However, many medical leaders and politicians alike had negative reactions to the plan. Among them was the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians, which said in a statement that the decision was “devoid of epidiomological logic.”MK Naftali Bennett lashed out at the cabinets decision to impose such a lockdown on Frday morning, tweeting that the government is “disconnected, irrational and destructive.”Coalition member MK Gideon Saar, who has a historic rivalry with the prime minister, also took the Twitter. He said that the move will “exacerbate the damage to the economy” and will not achieve its desired purpose.”Also on Thursday, High Court of Justice President Esther Hayut sent a letter to the entire judicial branch to try to rally them despite setbacks from the coronavirus second wave.

Hayut said that one judge and nine other judicial branch employees are infected and that 24 judges and 192 branch staff are in quarantine.  

She said the judiciary was doing its best to learn lessons to bring infection rates down, but gave the impression that the courts will remain open.

Further, she slammed the recent (failed) attempt in the Knesset to launch a state commission of inquiry regarding judicial conflicts of interest as having ulterior interests, framing it as “another wave” of problems which the judiciary is having to cope with.At the same time, the Defense Ministry announced that it is working to expand its agreement with My Heritage to conduct 30,000 coronavirus tests per day, up from its current 10,000. At the same time, the ministry said it aims to shorten response times by expanding automation processes and connecting the laboratory directly to healthcare providers.