Israel surpassed 7,000 coronavirus deaths as of Monday night, according to updated data from the Health Ministry, as the cabinet met to discuss new measures to contain the outbreak.
The ministers approved the proposal to require that workers in education and health institutions, as well as in all venues where customers are demanded to present a green pass, must also have it.
In addition, the ministers greenlighted the outline for holding selihot penitential prayer services at the Western Wall.
Slihot are recited every night in the period leading up to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In normal years, tens of thousands of people flock to the Western Wall to recite prayers.
According to the plan that ministers are discussing, up to 8,000 worshipers will be allowed at the Western Wall, divided into smaller-sized groups. Masks will be mandatory.
Finally, the cabinet confirmed the plan for opening the school year on Wednesday whose last details were determined during a meeting between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, and Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton earlier in the day.
Bennett directed that all unvaccinated teachers and staff will be required to take coronavirus rapid tests twice a week. In an interview with Channel 12, Education Ministry Director-General Yigal Slovik said that those who refuse to be tested will not be allowed in school buildings and will be sent home on unpaid leave.
Rapid tests will also be widely used to monitor unvaccinated children.
Children in grades 7-12, where less than 70% of students have received at least the first shot, will begin the year learning remotely. Starting October 1, at least 70% of students in a class will need to have received two shots in order to learn in person.
Of the 79,000 active cases, about 38,000 are schoolchildren.
Some 6,621 new cases were identified on Sunday – a lower number than on previous weekdays but with a lower number of tests processed (around 90,000 compared to 150,000), with 7.8% of people screened testing positive, the highest in several months.
As of Monday, the number of serious patients stood at 736, similar to the previous day.
At 6 p.m., the death toll stood at 7,030, which was 40 more than in the morning update.
Some 551 people succumbed to COVID in August, more than 10 times the number in July, when 52 individuals died. In June, eight people died from the disease. However, Israel has also registered deadlier months, with almost 1,500 deaths in January and nearly 1,000 each in February and October 2020.
According to data reported to Channel 12, some 492 of the victims this month were over 60 – almost 90%. Unvaccinated individuals were three times more likely to die than vaccinated one.