Israel has extended its third coronavirus lockdown until 7am Sunday, hoping that its rapid vaccination campaign helps to contain an outbreak accelerated by new variants.
As ministers debated into the early hours of Friday morning, the country marked its 5,000th death from coronavirus.
A government statement released early Friday detailed the lifting of restrictions: People will no longer have to remain within 1,000 meters (yards) of home, national parks will reopen, B&Bs can offer accommodation to nuclear families only and restaurants can offer takeout.
Workplaces not open to the public can also reopen, while it was still unclear Friday when kindergartens would reopen.
The Nature and Parks Authority announced Friday morning that from Sunday, nature reserves and national parks that are free of charge will be open to the public. Paid sites will open on Monday, and entry to them will require pre-registration through an online system on the authority's website from Sunday morning.
Coronavirus czar Prof. Nachman Ash told ministers Thursday night that he wanted a lockdown extension until Sunday night, emphasizing that an unmonitored reopening would lead to an exponential increase in the number of infected, which in turn would have a massive impact on the number of critical and fatal cases.
Ash recommended that restrictions be lifted only after two million people had received the second dose of the vaccine, half a million people had recovered from COVID-19, the country had reached an immunization rate of 80% of the population aged 50 and over, there was an infection rate of less than 1 and less than 1,000 patients were hospitalized.
He also proposed removing the restrictions on movement, opening up business that do not work with the public and reopening educational institutions for younger children from Monday.
Israel has launched one of the world's most successful vaccination drives, inoculating more than a third of its population of 9.3 million in a matter or weeks. But the rate of new cases has remained high, in part because of more contagious variants from Britain and South Africa.
The country has been reporting some 7,000 new infections a day, one of the highest in the developed world. More than a quarter of the deaths from the virus happened in January alone.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is urging Israelis to get vaccinated, with a particular focus on people over 50. The rate of vaccinations has slowed recently, with some apparent hesitancy among Arab citizens, ultra-Orthodox Jews and younger people.
On Thursday the country opened its vaccination program to everyone over the age of 16, citing the slowdown in vaccinations. Even so, Israel's four health funds expressed concerns that they had not seen the rush they expected once the vaccination program was expanded.
"More people have come but there has not been an 'explosion'," Prof. Ehud Davidson, who heads Israel's largest health fund Clalit, said Thursday.
"There has definitely been a rise in public interest and this age group uses the app more, so from there we have seen an increase in demand and appointments [to receive the vaccine]."