Following the report that the British mutation was discovered in the Efrat settlement in Gush Etzion, this evening (Sunday) the head of the council, Oded Ravivi, announced the closure of all educational institutions in the settlement, including special education, and that learning outside the city will not be allowed.
Revivi stressed that the Ministry of Health did not know who was infected with the British mutation and in order to prevent its rapid spread, a joint decision was made to close the educational institutions.
In his remarks to the residents tonight, Ravivi criticized the revelation about the existence of the British mutation in Efrat Shema in the news edition and not from the Ministry of Health.
“I saw the news that in Efrat a teacher was infected with the British mutation and as a result a large number of children were infected. This news caught us by surprise. I started doing tests with the Ministry of Health and received confirmation within a few minutes that “They know who the patient is who is infected with the British mutation, so the news report is unfounded.”
He added: “We made every effort to see how open educational institutions are held with all our might to allow as many parents as possible to go to work. We reached situations where schools and kindergartens had to be closed but all this did not lead us to the decision to close the education system.” “The British mutation is very high. We are actually trying to stop it at the first meeting of Efrat residents with the mutation. If we can continue to infect people in Efrat, we may reach large numbers of sick and isolated people.”
Council Chairman Revivi stressed that apart from closing the education system, he is asking Efrat residents who teach at other educational institutions outside the city “to take responsibility and not go to work tomorrow, to stop the spread of the mutation.”
In Efrat, there are currently more than 100 verified patients with coronary heart disease out of 12,300 residents.