Israel Further Restricts Public, Private Sectors over Coronavirus

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has announced new restrictions on public- and private-sector business activities in a bid to stem the spread of coronavirus. Government employees engaged in tasks deemed non-essential have been placed on paid leave until at least the Passover holiday in three weeks’ time, whereas private firms with more than 10 workers have been ordered to reduce the number of staff on-site by 70%. Moreover, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon has announced a plan to inject $1.5 billion into the economy in addition to a previous package of some $3.5 billion, with a view to propping up small- and medium-sized businesses. Overall, the ministry’s chief economist projected that the crisis would cost the local economy some $12 billion and wipe out an estimated 3% growth in GDP for 2020. Netanyahu also confirmed that his cabinet had approved the use of controversial “digital tools” – mainly tracking technologies reserved for counter-terrorism purposes – for a 30-day period. The ostensible goal is to monitor past and future movements of potential carriers of coronavirus in a bid to curb the outbreak. “We are not locking people in their houses; this is not a total lockdown,” Netanyahu stressed, adding: “I hope we will not reach that.” Israel’s Health Ministry on Tuesday raised the number of diagnosed cases of COVID-19 – the illness caused by the pathogen – to 304.