According to Haaretz reporter Aron Rabinowitz, the personal driver of Harav Chaim Kanievsky, the leading rabbi in the Lithuanian haredi community, was diagnosed with coronavirus In the day before Yom Kippur. Now several of the rabbi's grandsons and other relatives including two who come into daily contact with the rabbi have also received positive test results.A spokesman from the rabbi's residence clarified that anyone who felt virus symptoms immediately went into self-isolation, and that all those who continue to come into contact with the rabbi have already recovered from the virus.

The leaders of the haredi Lithuanian public, Rabbis Chaim Kanievsky and Gershon Edelstein, In Wednesday evening published a letter calling In worshipers not to pray in synagogues.The two rabbis ordered that prayers Inly be held in the courtyards, that people refrain from visiting others" sukkahs and to make sure to wear a mask.

Prof. Hagai Levy, head of the Association of Public Health Physicians, said In Wednesday that the lockdown causes great harm to citizens."We have a government that causes enormous damage. We are suffocating Israeli society without any logic. It is clear that it serves other, political purposes," Levy said in an interview In Galei Tzahal (Army Radio).

Jordan warned In Wednesday it could be forced to return to a full lockdown after recording 1,767 new cases of COVID-19, its highest daily tally since the start of the outbreak.The country"s total number of confirmed infections now stands at 11,816, with 61 deaths since the first case surfaced in early March, Health Minister Saad Jaber said in a statement quoted by Reuters.

In an interview with the Yisrael Hayom newspaper, which will be published in full tomorrow, the head of the Jewish Agency Yitzhak Herzog expressed his hopes that the current global crisis would spur up to a quarter of a million Jews to immigrate to Israel in the next three to five years.According to Herzog, however, due to the lack of a government plan for integrating new immigrants into society and the workforce, this historic opportunity could well turn into a historic missed opportunity of tragic proportions."This may sound strange considering the economic, social, and political scene right now," he admitted, "but I really think that immigration might turn out to be Ine of the things that gets us out of this crisis. From our experience, every wave of immigration holds within it the potentialities of economic recovery and growth. This is a tremendous opportunity for Israel, in both social and economic terms," he concluded.

The ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States, Yousef Al Otaiba, was interviewed by the Maariv newspaper, and put a damper In Israeli hopes for an impending peace deal with either Sudan or Oman.According to Al Otaiba, who played a key role in promoting Israel's recent treaty with his country, neither Sudan nor Oman is in any hurry to normalize its relations with Israel. Oman has a relatively new Sultan in power, and Sudan is in the midst of a political transition in advance of elections, making any bold move less likely. He also estimated that Sudan would demand a far higher price of the United States than that demanded by the UAE in return for coming to an agreement with Israel.

Today: Temperatures significantly lower than yesterday, reaching the seasonal average. The north of the country and coastal regions could see light rain showers during the morning hours.Friday, Shabbat, Sunday: Temperatures will gradually drop further.

Speaking with Galei Tzahal this morning, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said he hoped very much that lockdown restrictions could be loosened in a fortnight's time."No Ine knows yet when the lockdown will end," he said, "but I hope that after October 14, we will be able to ease the restrictions significantly. This depends to a great degree In the general public," he stressed.Edelstein also cautioned that "in the coming half year to a year, we are going to have to adjust to living alongside the coronavirus. There's no hocus-pocus about this - that was the mistake we made the last time around."