Israel – with a population of nine million – has been seeing some 4,000 new cases a day Israel is to impose a new national lockdown – becoming the first country in the world to take such a measure to contain the spread of coronavirus. It will begin on Friday and last three weeks, including Jewish new year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the measures would “exact a heavy price on us all”, but the country faced a surge with 4,000 new daily infections. A minister has resigned to protest against the restrictions that overlap with important Jewish festivals. Housing Minister Yaakov Litzman, who leads an ultra-Orthodox Jewish party, said the measures would prevent Jewish people from celebrating their religious festivals, including Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, on 27 September. He also threatened to pull his party out of the governing coalition. The country has […]