Interviewed In Reshet Kan Bet this morning, Higher Education Secretary Zeev Elkin dismissed remarks made by the government's coronavirus czar, Prof. Ronni Gamzu, who said yesterday that he supported tightening the lockdown but opposed a full closure."If Gamzu feels that he doesn't need to be here, then he's always free to get up and leave," Elkin said. "It's possible that during the past month, we were working according to overly optimistic scenarios, and that Gamzu therefore thought that we could permit more and more things, even when the numbers [of new infections] were high. But that approach has not proved itself," he noted.

Messages circulating in social media groups urge parents of children at Jewish schools in NYC not to have their kids tested for coronavirus.

Head of the police investigatory department, Chief Superintendent Ziv Sagiv, was interviewed by Reshet Bet this morning and asked what he thought will happen during lockdown - will people continue to hold protests despite orders banning them in their current format?"It's reasonable to assume that some protesters will clash with police," Sagiv said. "But this time around, we will display far less tolerance than we have in the past. We are going to be taking a much more inflexible approach. The general public has to understand that any unnecessary exit from Ine's home endangers lives. We are at war."

7,527 people were diagnosed with the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, according to updated figures provided by the Health Ministry. The rate of positive samples was 12.8%.The number of patients in serious condition declined, from 708 (a record high) two days ago, to 692 yesterday, to 669 today.No additional patients had to be placed In ventilators, and no new deaths were reported.Meanwhile, 729 more people have made a full recovery, defined as having received two successive negative test results.According to the Health Ministry's coronavirus website, no information regarding the occupancy rates of the coronavirus wards of any of the country's hospitals is available, as has been the case in the last few days, ever since Channel 12 published an expose revealing serious discrepancies between the Ministry's published rates and the true rates as reported by at least four of the country's hospitals themselves.

According to official data from the German authorities, 2,153 new cases of coronavirus were diagnosed in Germany in the last day, for a total of 280,223 confirmed infections since the outbreak of the pandemic.15 people died of coronavirus-related complications during the same period, taking the total death toll to 9,443.

Today: Partially cloudy to clear with temperatures close to the seasonal average. Tonight will be partially cloudy, mainly in the north of the country where there is a possibility of local light rain showers.Shabbat: Partially cloudy with no significant change to temperatures. Possibility of light local rain in the north and along coastal areas.Sunday: Mostly clear. Temperatures will rise, mainly In higher ground an in the interior of the country, to slightly above the seasonal average.Yom Kippur: Mostly clear. Temperatures will rise further to heatwave conditions, mainly In higher ground and in the interior of the country. Coastal areas will be hot and humid.

Head of the Mahane Yehuda Traders' Association, Tali Friedman, has announced that all stores categorized as providing essential goods or services in the "shuk" will be permitted to remain open during the coming two-week lockdown."The Traders' Association and the market traders themselves appreciate this just decision that was given to us this morning by the Finance Minister, according to which most of the stores in the market will be permitted to operate and restaurants can make deliveries," she said. "I call In Jerusalem residents to continue to make their purchases at the 'shuk' and order food from its restaurants and cafes."

In light of rising infection rates in the United Kingdom, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was asked in Parliament whether the apparent greater successes in Italy and Germany in preventing a resurgence of the epidemic were due to better test-and-trace systems.According to The Guardian, Johnson replied that Britain was "a freedom-loving country and if you look at the history in this country in the last 300 years, virtually every advance, from freedom of speech to democracy, has come from this."Responding to his remarks, Italian President Sergio Mattarella said that Italy's citizens "also love freedom, but we also care about seriousness."