Health Minister Yuli Edelstein called Thursday for a full lockdown across Israel during the Jewish High Holidays, which begin next Friday with Rosh Hashanah (New Year) and end on October 9.
Edelstein, who is currently in quarantine after coming into contact with an infected person, was to present his plan to ministers at a meeting Thursday afternoon to decide on steps for the holiday season.
The health minister's plan includes shutting all academic institutions, workplaces and gatherings and putting the entire public sector on an emergency footing.
Two other proposals were to be presented to ministers by coronavirus czar Prof. Ronni Gamzu.
The first calls for a nationwide lockdown only during the holidays themselves. Grades 1-4 would continue going to school, with the rest remaining at home.
Restaurants and other entertainment spots would only be open in "green" and "yellow" communities – those with low or moderate virus morbidity.
Domestic tourism and businesses that do not involve contact with the public would continue to operate as usual, while prayer gatherings would function in accordance with public health regulations.
The secondplan also calls for a lockdown only during the holidays themselves, but would see all restaurants and entgertainment sites closed completely.
Hotels would also be closed and domestic tourism would cease. As with the first proposal, children in grades 1-4 would be allowed to keep attending school, with the rest learning from home.
Workplaces without public interaction would keep operating and the public sector would function on an emergency footing.
Prayers would only be allowed in open spaces, with prayer sessions in houses of worship limited to only 10 people.
Israel saw 3,904 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday - a daily record high for the country. There were also 405 new diagnoses between midnight and 7:30am Thursday.
The national death toll for COVID-19 has now reached 1,054.
Some 43,500 coronavirus tests were processed Wednesday, showing an infection rate of 9% or 1 in 11 tests coming back positive.