New coronavirus hotbeds as infection still climbing

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases has jumped daily by around 400 for the last four days. New hotbeds at Bet Shaan in the north, Dimona in the south and two Arab towns Tira and Kafr Qassem, have joined Bnei Brak and Arara. The coronavirus ministerial cabinet meeting urgently later Sunday will hear Ministry of Health plans to counteract the rise by restricting gatherings at events in closed premises from 250 to 50 and limiting staff in offices to ten.

Tzvi Hauser, Chairman of The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, is nonetheless delaying ratification of the government’s decision to employ the Shin Bet’s cellphone monitoring system to track coronavirus infection chains. Hauser said the committee will approve its temporary use for a couple of weeks – and only at hotbeds – while its members take the time to thrash out its pros and cons.

Ministry of Health figures Sunday morning: 23,421 cases of which 6,102 are active, 41 serious (down from 46 on Saturday) and 23 are on ventilators (down from 28). A total of 317 people have died of the virus.