Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced on Motzei Shabbos that the government is imposing a partial shutdown of the economy. Supermarkets, pharmacies, banks and gas stations will remain open but non-essential businesses will be closed. “Places of entertainment” such as malls, coffee shops, gyms, restaurants and simcha halls will be closed as of Sunday morning and gatherings of over 10 people should be avoided. Whoever doesn’t need to travel to work or other locations should remain at home. Pre-schools and daycare centers are also closing as of Sunday morning. Public transportation will be reduced. Only essential workers should travel to work with non-essential employees working from home.

The following letter was written by Rav Chaim Kanievsky Shlita regarding protection from the Corona Pandemic. It was translated and annotated by Rabbi yair Hoffman for the 5TJT.com. Rav Kanievsky’s words are in boldface.  Rabbi Yair Hoffman’s additions are in italics and in plain type.  Rabbi Hoffman’s additions are the background that is necessary to understand Rav Chaim’s words.  May we all have yeshuos. YH BS”D Adar 5780 Regarding the concern of transmission of the Corona Virus Pandemic Everyone must be mechazek to refrain from Lashon Harah and rechilus as it states in Arachin 15b:  [Why is a leper so different, that the Torah states: “He shall dwell alone; outside of the camp shall be his dwelling” (Vayikrah 13:46)?

The number of people diagnosed with the coronavirus in Israel rose to 126 as of Friday morning, with 17 new patients diagnosed overnight Thursday, the Health Ministry stated. One patient is a six-month-old baby. The Health Ministry added that there are 2,479 health employees in quarantine, including 949 doctors, 635 nurses. 171 MDA employees, 129 geriatric care employees and 93 psychiatrists. All schools and universities are closed per Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s announcement on Thursday night but although Netanyahu said that preschools would open as usual, a Haaretz report said that hundreds of pre-school teachers called in sick on Friday morning in protest of the preschools remaining open.

El Al announced on Thursday that it is gradually ending flights to most international destinations by Sunday evening but will continue to operate some flights to the US, Canada, England, France and South Africa “out of a sense of national responsibility.” “In recent hours and days, there have been increasing reports about the total cessation of foreign airlines at Ben-Gurion Airport in light of the various directives and decreasing demand,” said El Al CEO Gonen Usishkin.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has declared a state of emergency in New York City and announced 95 positive cases of coronavirus in NYC. “I will emphasize that the declaration state of emergency authorizes the use of the powers, but we will use them as needed, does not mean everything will happen at once, and we are going to try to be careful to give you accurate information about what the city is doing and why,” de Blasio said. “And all of our largest venues will now no longer have gatherings until such time in this crisis as it is acceptable to do so again and unfortunately, I suspect that will be a number of months.” Gatherings with more than 500 people will temporarily be banned in New York, Gov.

Israel’s National Security Council, Health Ministry and Education Ministry have reportedly made a decision on Thursday to close all educational institutions in Israel until at least after Pesach due to the spread of the coronavirus, according to a Channel 12 news report. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with Education Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz Thursday afternoon followed by lengthy discussions with the National Security Council (NSC) and reportedly accepted the recommendation to close all schools. There will be an official announcement on Thursday evening at 8 p.m. The Education Ministry is planning on establishing an online system for online classrooms for all educational institutions, including elementary schools, high schools and higher education institutions.

A sign on the wall of Hagaon Harav Chaim Kanievsky’s home on Thursday morning announced that the Gadol’s kabalas kahal has been discontinued, Kikar H’Shabbos reported. The unprecedented announcement of the cancellation of the Gadol HaTorah’s kabalas kahal follows the Health Ministry’s announcement on Wednesday night about tightened restrictions against the spread of the coronavirus in Israel, including a ban of gatherings of over 100 people. According to Harav Chaim’s bnei bayis, there are at least 100 people in Harav Chaim’s small home in Bnei Brak during the daily kabalas kahal and many of the visitors are tourists and businessmen from abroad, increasing the risk of infection.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is suspending all travel between the U.S. and Europe for 30 days beginning Friday as he seeks to combat a viral pandemic. Trump made the announcement in an Oval Office address to the nation, blaming the European Union for not acting quickly enough to address the “foreign virus” and saying U.S. clusters were “seeded” by European travelers. “We made a lifesaving move with early action on China,” Trump said. “Now we must take the same action with Europe.” Trump said the restrictions won’t apply to the United Kingdom and the U.S. would monitor the situation to determine if travel could be reopened earlier.

Israel is limiting public events in closed areas to 100 people as part of increasingly strict measures to curb the spread of the new coronavirus in the country, PM Netanyahu announced Wednesday evening. The ban includes Shuls, Batei Midrashim, and weddings, the Health Ministry director-general Moshe Bar Siman-Tov elaborated. On Tuesday, Israel limited the gatherings to a maximum of 2,000 people, a substantial decrease from the previously allowed number of 5,000 people. The new instructions means that studies in universities might be postponed Netanyahu also said that younger people are not in danger from the virus, but older people are, and thus its spread must be prevented. “If you get sick and you’re in your 20s or 30s,” he said, “you’ll get better.

New York City COVID-19 cases jumped by 10 to 46 overnight. Across New York state, the number reached 186 with the biggest cluster in New Rochelle. There were also confirmed cases reported at Maimonides Hospital in Boro Park. It was unknown what community the patients were from, or where they had been. Governor Andrew Cuomo announced 10 other new positive test results across New York state and Suffolk County officials say they have 6 cases. Big events are also being canceled or postponed because of the outbreak. Due to the spread of the virus across the city, the New York International Auto Show has been delayed and the NYC Half Marathon has been canceled. STAY UPDATED WITH BREAKING UPDATES FROM YWN VIA WHATSAPP – SIGN UP NOW Just click on this link, and you will be placed into a group.