Israel reopens after second coronavirus lockdown

After a month of lockdown, Israel is now slowly reopening its economy from Sunday as the country saw a decline in the number of daily infections.

The reopening of the economy will allow all businesses, that do not involveface-to-face contact with the public, will be allowed to open up.

Israel will also be reopening its schools from the coming week, with nearly a million children returning back to their classrooms.

In addition to this, the ban that restricted people from travelling more than 1 km away from their homes will also be lifted now. The rule had garned immense criticism from locals and the opposition political party who accused the government of misusing coronavirus pandemic to silence the voices protesting against the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

As per the new rule, people are allowed to visit their friends and relatives, as long as the size of the gathering is limited to 10 people for indoor and 20 people for outdoor gatherings.

The second lockdown was hugely criticised by the residents who tried to defy the restrictions and camp outside PM's residence and other parts of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to protest against the 'ill-formed' regulations. People accused the government of imposing a lockdown without providing any financial assistance or assurance to the workers.

Israel was one of the first countries to lift the first lockdown. However, the government had to reimpose various restrictions as the daily infections continued rising.

However, the Prime Minister has assured people that"this time we are moving cautiously."

The government has urged people to exercise caution to avoid another wide spread of the novel coronavirus.

Israel, a country of about nine million people, has recorded 302,911 coronavirus cases, including 2,202 deaths, as of Sunday.