The number of coronavirus cases in Israel continues to escalate rapidly as 1,578 people were diagnosed as of Wednesday morning in the previous 24 hours, The number of active patients rose to 22,704  and the number of seriously ill patients has soared to 195, of whom 57 are ventilated. During the first wave, the highest number of seriously ill patients was 183. Four more fatalities were recorded, raising the death toll to 375. The Health Ministry data showed that three hospitals with coronavirus wards are full or even beyond capacity, Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem, Shamir Medical Center (formerly Assaf Harofeh) in Be’er Yaakov and Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer.

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said that the government may have to impose a nationwide lockdown within three to four days if the government doesn’t take action immediately and if the coronavirus infection rate does not decrease. “I think we have three-four days left to see if there are results to the minimal steps we took – much fewer steps than we wanted…if there’s a medical miracle [and infections rates decrease], maybe we won’t reach a lockdown.” National Security Council head Meir Ben-Shabbat recommended imposing further restrictions at a meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu‏‏ and senior officials on Tuesday night, including closing shuls, yeshivas, pools, restaurants, gyms, and summer camps.

The Iranian-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen has reportedly rounded up Yemen’s few remaining Jews as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign, according to a report in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Mesryoon. The Houthis allegedly forced the Jews in the Kharif District, northwest of the capital of Sana’a, to sell their homes and land to Houthi leaders, imprisoned them, and are pressuring them to leave Yemen. According to the report, the Houthis have long engaged in systematic discrimination and violation of human rights against Yemen’s Jews, currently estimated to number only about 100. Houthis have reportedly stolen from Jews, prevented them from leaving their homes, and cut off their supply of electricity and water.

Tuesday evening saw a mass protests outside the city of Beitar on the main access road that connects the town to Tzur Hadassah in the west and Gush Etzion in the east. Protesters were enraged at the closure of the city, which they had been told would continue for at least another week. Some held signs denouncing Netanyahu stating “I’m a Chareidi man who works, and because of you Bibi, I have nothing to eat.” Other signs read: “If you close us down you need to pay. Who will pay my salary?” A large police force as well as IDF soldiers were sent to the scene in order to maintain order. While security forces were working to open the road, two Chareidi men were arrested. Protesters shouted that the country has turned into a police state with no rights for the citizens.

Popular messaging app WhatsApp seems to be having an issue, in particular with sending and receiving of messages. Users across the world have reported having issues establishing any connection, Thus they are unable to send or receive messages. We have also confirmed that WhatsApp status are not working. WhatsApp users in nearly a dozen countries including the US, Brazil, Germany, India, UK, France, Netherlands, Lebanon, and Mexico have been reporting outages since about 4pm EST, according to DownDetector, which tracks social media outages. THE YWN TELEGRAM CHANNEL IS UP AND RUNNING! YOU CAN JOIN BY GOING TO @YESHIVAWORLDNEWS (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Health Ministry officials will most likely instruct Israelis to celebrate the Yamim Tovim in Tishrei with only their nuclear family and ban gatherings with extended family, Yisrael Hayom reported on Tuesday. A senior Health Ministry official told Yisrael Hayom that no final decisions have been made on the topic and will be made only according to the morbidity data in the coming weeks.

At a massive rally outside the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem turned ugly after protesters began throwing bottles and eggs at police officers securing the protest. Photographers covering the protest were also targeted by the projectiles. The protest, which was termed the “Bastille Protest”, because it is held on “Bastille Day” saw protesters clash with police officers, while some even attempted to break into the Prime Minister’s residence.

Israel’s Health Ministry reported another record-breaking number of 1,168 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours. The number of active cases has risen to 21,393, with 177 in serious condition, of whom 55 are ventilated. The death toll has risen to 368. Health Ministry officials have come to the conclusion that a second lockdown in Israel is inevitable, Channel 13 News reported on Monday night. Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Chezy Levy said that Israel’s infection rate has risen to 6% at a press conference at the Health Ministry on Monday night. “I’m worried about the increase in numbers,” Levy said.

The neighborhood of Ramot in Jerusalem, which has about 60,000 residents, may be placed into lockdown due to its high rate of coronavirus infections, Kikar H’Shabbos reported. Currently, Ramot’s Rabbanim and askanim are engaging in strenuous efforts to avoid a lockdown and have had more than one emergency meeting with government officials in the past 24 hours. “Ramot is on the way to a lockdown but the government and the Home Front Command has given us a last chance to decrease the infection rate so the neighborhood won’t be declared a “red zone,” one of the neighborhood askanim told Kikar H’Shabbat.

An official letter of the Ukrainian government states that Israeli Jews will not be allowed to enter Ukraine to spend Rosh Hashanah at Uman – the site of the kever of Rav Nachman of Breslov. The increasingly popular tradition of tens of thousands of Jews from all over the world traveling to Uman every year for Rosh Hashanah has now joined the list of activities that have been halted by the coronavirus pandemic. According to the letter, Ukrainian government officials convened on July 9 to discuss whether to allow Israeli Jews to enter the country for Rosh Hashanah despite the coronavirus pandemic.