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Some stores set to open doors in defiance of weekend shutdown regulations

  • August 01, 2020

A number of retailers were expected on Saturday to violate weekend lockdown restrictions, after a dispute between ministers over the timing of an expected easing of the regulations meant cash registers were still mandated to stay shut.

The Big Shopping Center group announced it would allow stores to open, the Kan public broadcaster reported. Additionally, the Ofer Mall operator told the outlet that their shopping centers would open as usual due to the presence of supermarkets, pharmacies and restaurants, which are permitted to operate at the weekend, but they would not stop any other stores from opening in addition.

Businesses operating in violation of virus restrictions can face a NIS 5,000 fine (approximately $1,450).

Under current virus regulations, all non-essential stores must close between 5 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Sunday as part of a partial measure meant to curb the quickly spreading coronavirus while keeping the economy running for most of the week.

Much of Israel’s commercial activity is scaled back over the weekends due to the country’s laws on Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, but some malls as well as places of entertainment remain open.

Ministers are said to be on board with canceling the current restrictions, though a dispute on the timing meant a weekend lockdown that was set to go into effect Friday afternoon will instead likely remain in place for one more week.

On Friday, newly appointed coronavirus czar Prof. Ronni Gamzu urged retailers to be patient, saying most of their demands were “correct and justified.”

“We are acting from a desire to restore public faith. I call on everyone to be patient,” Gamzu said in a statement Friday.

“In recent days I have received many appeals regarding changes to the economic restrictions,” he said. “Most of these requests are correct and justified. However, at the same time, the real desire to make corrections and the necessary changes can not be an excuse for making immediate and hasty decisions.”

Gamzu met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday evening to discuss the possibility of lifting the government’s weekend restrictions on businesses after Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein agreed that partial lockdowns only caused economic damage without providing the health benefits of a full lockdown.

However, no decision was taken regarding this weekend due to disagreements between cabinet ministers on the matter, according to multiples reports.

The immediate lifting of the restriction was opposed by Science Minister Izhar Shay, who had suggested it, and by ultra-Orthodox ministers, who would like it to be accompanied with loosened rules on synagogues, according to Channel 12 news.

The package is set to be voted on only on Monday, the report said.

While most stores have been reopened since May, retailers say that their margins are too tight to allow them to be closed on weekends.

A letter sent to Netanyahu and other top officials signed by the heads of several of the country’s largest fashion chains on Wednesday urged the government to not delay the weekend rollback.

“It would be good if you made a decision to immediately cancel this unnecessary and illogical closure which has wreaked huge damage and destroyed us economically,” the letter reads, according to the Globes financial daily. “Pushing off the decision until early next week for technical reasons of religion or anything else, including restrictions from the Ninth of Av [the Jewish fast day that ended Thursday evening], will restore the sense of lack of trust and lack of logic in managing the crisis.”

This weekend coincides with the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, when many stores see increased turnout.

“Weekends make up 40% of my monthly revenues,” Avital Suwet, head of the Bogart clothing chain, told Channel 13 news. “That means if this continues, we will have to reshuffle the deck and unfortunately have another round of layoffs.”

Coronavirus cases in Israel rose by 1,791 in the past 24 hours and the national death toll hit 512, according to the latest Health Ministry figures released Friday evening.

The total case count stood at 70,970, with 320 patients in serious condition, including 98 on ventilators. The number of recovered patients reached 43,850.

Israel has the fifth-highest number of new coronavirus infections per capita in the world, overtaking the United States, according to data compiled by a scientific publication based at Oxford University.

And while the country has seen the number of new coronavirus cases rocket to more than 2,000 a day in recent weeks, a new Hebrew University report published on Thursday asserted that Israel has managed to gain control of the second wave of the coronavirus, thanks to a recent stabilization in the number of seriously and moderately ill patients.

The curve for seriously and moderately ill patients began to spike in late June before stabilizing in recent days, the researchers reported. They credited the restrictions imposed by the government in recent weeks to limit crowding for helping to flatten the curve.

According to the report, the death toll will climb by roughly 200 in the coming three weeks as a result of the high infection rate over the past month.

Experts have blamed a too-speedy reopening and the lack of an effective contact-tracing program as main factors in the virus resurgence, which has come as new daily coronavirus cases around the world have also reached record highs.

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