Israel has seen a spike in new Covid-19 cases as schools, businesses, restaurants, bars, tourist attractions and other establishments have reopened.
On Thursday, the country recorded over 200 new coronavirus infections in a day for the first time since late April.
Schools throughout the country have closed after cases tied to students and staff members continue to climb.
18,701 Israelis have tested positive for the virus so far; 300 people have died.
The sudden surge in new cases has led to Israel’s government delaying plans to further lift restrictions.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday: “It could be that we are already seeing the doubling of the rate of infection within ten days. I very much hope not”.
He added: “What we decided to do, first of all, is to hit the ’emergency brake.’ We stopped all moves to ease restrictions that we were going to apply in the coming days. We will check this again next week”.
Israel has been praised for its handling of the crisis and relatively low death toll. The country introduced some of the toughest measures in the Middle East against the pandemic in March, including a de facto ban on foreigners entering the country and a mobile phone surveillance app to track suspected carriers of the virus.
Israelis were until recently also banned from travelling beyond a 100-yard radius of their homes, except for gathering essential supplies or exceptional circumstances.
The country significantly relaxed coronavirus restrictions and reopened its economy in May, but the decision to reopen schools has been linked to a sudden rise in coronavirus cases over the past four weeks.
According to Israel’s education ministry, 165 schools have had to close due to a second wave of infections.
