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‘No alternative’ to Jewish New Year lockdown, Israeli health officials say

“The prevailing assessment right now is that there will be no alternative other than to issue orders to celebrate Rosh Hashana with the nuclear family alone,” Health Ministry officials said.

By Josh Plank, World Israel News

The government will likely reinstate lockdown restrictions for Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot as it did on Passover and Independence Day, according to senior Health Ministry officials, Israel Hayom reported Tuesday.

“The prevailing assessment right now is that there will be no alternative other than to issue orders to celebrate Rosh Hashana with the nuclear family alone,” the officials said.

“These assessments are based on an analysis of information on coronavirus spread trends in Israel and around the world, as well as on information and warnings from other nations and the World Health Organization regarding the next few months,” they said.

The officials said that a final decision on the lockdown has not been made, and the spread of the disease in Israel and the number of newly confirmed cases in the next few weeks will be critical factors in making the determination.

Officials said that they are also considering the option of issuing strong recommendations that people only celebrate the High Holidays at home with immediate family, while stopping short of the official travel restrictions and full lockdown that was ordered during the holidays of Passover and Independence Day.

Another factor in the lockdown decision is recent data showing that a large number of coronavirus patients may have contracted the virus at home or at family events.

Large family gatherings are common during the High Holiday season, which lasts for approximately three weeks, beginning with Rosh Hashanah on the evening of September 18 this year.

The Health Ministry released a report on Sunday showing that in cases where the place of infection is known, approximately 65.8 percent of patients contracted the coronavirus at home.

This statistic is based upon the number of cases for which the ministry made efforts to track the origin of the infection and were successful in doing so.

Of the 30,162 coronavirus cases from the beginning of the pandemic until July 6, the ministry made efforts to track the origin of 21,562 cases, of which it was able to successfully determine the probable origin in 8,981 cases.