Under 4,000 Active COVID-19 Cases as Education System Set to Fully Reopen on Sunday

Israel’s general education system is expected to open up fully on Sunday in towns with a low rate of coronavirus patients, as the country’s coronavirus numbers remain low even after many schools have reopened over the last two weeks. The chareidi school system is still opening gradually, in phases.

The decision on reopening schools was reached in a meeting held between Prime Minister’s Office director-general Ronen Peretz and directors of the Education and Health Ministries as well as the head of the budgetary wing of the Finance Ministry. The decision will be brought for the approval of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, in cities and towns where there is still a high concentration of patients, the existing plan will continue as is.

The Health Ministry has requested to bring back only kindergartens in municipalities with low concentrations of patients, but the Education and Finance Ministries demanded to apply the decision for all ages.

In their daily update, the Health Ministry said Thursday morning that there are 3,939 active coronavirus cases. Five new cases were identified since Wednesday, taking the total number of cases to 16,567, of whom 12,364 have fully recovered.

No new deaths have been recorded since Wednesday night, with the death toll standing at 264.

Sixty-two patients are in serious condition, with 52 of them on ventilators.

The Health Ministry reported that the number of patients in Yerushalayim, which was the prime location in terms of cases of infection, now stands at 3,661 people. Bnei Brak is still in second place, with 2,913 verified cases.