Netanyahu Says Lockdown May Last Much More Than a Month

(Bloomberg) -- Israel’s second coronavirus lockdown may spool out far longer than a month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.

“I have to tell you honestly, it won’t be less than a month, and it might take much longer,” he said in reply to a question posed during a Facebook live broadcast. The second lockdown was imposed on Sept. 18, then tightened a week later after daily new cases topped 8,000.

Per capita, Israel’s daily coronavirus morbidity rate is the highest in the world, according to a government report on Tuesday. By that same measure, Israel has also surpassed the U.S. in the current number of deaths per day, the report said.

Over 233,000 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Israel since March, including more than 1,500 fatalities, according to Health Ministry figures. The country has become a cautionary tale on how not to return to normal after successfully containing the virus during its first lockdown.

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