A haredi Orthodox man wearing a protective mask crosses a street in the religious Israeli city of Bnei Brak amid the coronavirus pandemic crisis, April 6, 2020 (Photo/JTA-Menahem Kahana-AFP via Getty Images) News Israel 40 Israeli cities placed under coronavirus curfew along with neighborhoods in Jerusalem and elsewhere Facebook Twitter Email SMS WhatsApp Share By Marcy Oster, JTA | September 8, 2020 Forty Israeli cities and towns, as well as neighborhoods of Jerusalem and elsewhere, have been placed under nightly curfews to curb the spread of the coronavirus. A ministerial committee tasked with declaring closed areas approved the list on Tuesday. Most of the communities with the 7 p.m. curfews for the next week are Arab and haredi Orthodox. Along with Jerusalem, Sderot, Eilat, Ashkelon, Ashdod and Beit Shemesh are among the cities to have certain neighborhoods with the curfew. While the mayors of some Arab towns reportedly said they welcomed the curfews, mayors of haredi towns told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they would not cooperate, throwing the plans into disarray. Under the curfew, residents will be forbidden from leaving their homes between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m., and non-essential businesses will be required to close at 7 p.m., although there will be no restriction on movement in and out of the areas. Schools in the communities will be closed. The government failed on Sunday and Monday to approve the list of communities designated as “red” because of their high infection rates. Israel currently has the highest rate of new infections per capita in the world, with an average of 199.3 new cases a day per 1 million residents for the week ending Sept. 2, according to official figures. Marcy Oster Israel-based JTA correspondent JTA Content distributed by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency news service. Also On J. Tech Supreme Court sends hate speech regulation back to Congress Film Should a movie about Carlebach still be screened after #MeToo? California $65M deal to sell American Jewish University’s LA campus collapses World Will flooding force Kherson's last Jews to leave? Subscribe to our Newsletter Enter Email Sign Up