Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells ministers that he supports the Health Ministry request for a tighter lockdown to start from Thursday and not a day later as he originally proposed.
"We are in the midst of a global epidemic that is spreading at record speed due to the British mutation. It has reached Israel and is claiming many lives," he said.
"We must immediately impose a full closure. I have no doubt that the government will approve it and the Knesset has to pass it immediately."