Israel’s Health Ministry recorded 1,358 new coronavirus cases on Motzei Shabbos in the previous 24 hours, raising the number of active cases to 26,542, with 328 in serious condition, of whom 95 are ventilated. Eleven more fatalities were recorded, raising the death toll to 523. Jerusalem Affair Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz (Bayit Yehudi) stated on Motzei Shabbos that following his coronavirus test on Friday, he was informed that he is positive, adding that he currently feels well. Peretz has been in quarantine since Thursday when his ministry’s director-general, Avi Cohen, tested positive for the virus. The Knesset spokesperson announced that following an epidemiological investigation by the Health Ministry, three Knesset members and three of their advisers were instructed to enter quarantine. The three MKs, Avi Dichter (Likud), Osnat Mark (Likud), and Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen (Likud), and the advisers were exposed to a confirmed coronavirus carrier in the Knesset on July 27. In light of the ongoing anti-Netanyahu protests in recent weeks, Health Ministry Director-General Chezy Levy warned that protestors can definitely contact the coronavirus from each other despite the fact that the protests are held outdoors. “Although they are held in an open area, hundreds and possibly thousands of people are close to each other, unmasked and sometimes singing, shouting, expelling saliva – this is exactly the way the coronavirus is spread,” Levy said on Kan News on Friday. Tens of thousands of anti-Netanyahu “Black Flag” demonstrators protested outside the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem on Motzei Shabbos, with some estimating the crowds to number about 30,000. Earlier on Motzei Shabbos, hundreds of Israelis protested on Motzei Shabbos outside Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s private home in Caesarea and at 300 other locations across Israel. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

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