The health minister on Wednesday urged Israelis not to hold large family meals for the Jewish High Holidays over the surge in coronavirus infection rate in the country.
Earlier the Health Ministry reported that for the first time this month the number of new daily coronavirus cases in Israel is once again hovering around the 2,000-mark.
Yuli Edelstein during the inauguration ceremony of the ministry's Coronavirus Control Center, the health minister said Israeli public has the responsibility "to hold back" this year during the holidays this September.
"Despite the understanding for the needs of many people, this year our responsibility is not to gather in large families around the holiday table," he said. "If we all act responsibly and obey the guidelines issued by the Health Ministry, I am confident that we can overcome the unknown, and we will emerge victorious without harming the delicate fabric of life in Israel, the needs of society and economy."
He said he expects the local authorities and religious leaders to discourage and disperse large gatherings of people in synagogues and city centers.
Edelstein also dismissed critisim of the ministry's handling of the pandemic. "The decisions that emerge from the Health Ministry and the government are the best professional decisions made by the best experts we have in Israel. We take into account not only the needs of the economy."
Coronavirus czar Prof. Ronni Gamzu, who also attended the press briefing, responded to the criticism about his handling of the pandemic by Likud party chair MK Miki Zohar.
"It's not certain that all politicians and MKs understand what we are doing here and what path we have taken," he said. "The whole world is now saying, 'maybe we will run it [the second wave] without closures'. It has a price, it's complex."
He said there are two ways of battling the pandemic. "The easy but destructive way is to close everything - economy, education, all systems of life for five to three weeks; the second method is difficult, complex and complicated, but it is constructive," he said.
"In the second wave, the State of Israel decided to take the hard way, and I believe that is the way."