The so-called Coronavirus Cabinet, which leads the government's response to the pandemic, voted to lift further restrictions from the education system, namely the return to school of grades 5-6 and 11-12, as well as the immediate reopening of open-air shopping centers in areas with low COVID-19 infection rate.
According to ministers, 5th-6th grade students will return to school on November 24 and 11th-12th grade students will return on December 1.
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High school students take an exam in central Israel during COVID-19 pandemic
(Photo: Moti Kimchi)
It was also decided that "orange" towns - communities with a rising coronavirus infection rate according to the coronavirus taskforce's "traffic light outline" - will go under nightly curfews pending legislation on the matter.
Criteria for localities that could be designated as "red", those with high coronavirus infection rates, will also be expanded.
Ministers also agreed to compose a pilot program for the reopening of retail stores. The pilot will kick off at a single mall and may be extended to other shopping centers contingent on its success.
The Cabinet also okayed Knesset's "tourist islands" legislation, which will allow hotels in the southern resort town of Eilat and the Dead Sea to reopen under criteria which were passed last week.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal to close businesses nationwide after 7pm did not come up for vote.
Netanyahu told the Cabinet that sharp hikes in the number of new COVID-19 cases will be followed by rolling back any restrictions previously lifted.
"Now we stand at around 650 new cases daily - once it starts rising, we will start to close again," he told ministers.