JERUSALEM (AP) —

Israel has decided to begin

sending children back to

school.

Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu’s office

announced Sunday that

his coronavirus cabinet

voted in favor of reopening

school for children in

grades one through four on

Nov. 1. The older children

will be divided into “capsules,”

and the children in

younger grades will come

on alternating days to minimize

class sizes.

Israeli schools opened

for the school year on Sept.

1 but quickly moved to distance

learning as a coronavirus

outbreak spread. The

government subsequently

imposed a month-long

lockdown that closed much

of the economy.

After mishandling the

lifting of a first lockdown

early this year, Israel is

moving cautiously this

time around. Preschools reopened

last week, and older

children are to gradually

return to school in a staggered

plan over the coming

weeks.

___

MARBLEHEAD, Mass.

— A school district superintendent

says a Massachusetts

high school will

shift to fully remote learning

after students attended

a house party where they

didn’t wear masks and

shared drinks.

Superintendent John

Buckey said in a letter to

families on Sunday that action

comes in response to

a house party Friday with

young people who were not

social distancing or wearing

face covering, and were

sharing drinks and “generally

ignoring” COVID-19

rules.

Buckley wrote that he

understood “young people’s

desire to be together,

as far away from adults as

possible,” but that ignoring

the rules was “potentially

harming the community at large.”

Marblehead High School students

will learn remotely until at

least Nov. 6. Buckley said the hybrid

learning model could restart

Nov. 9 if no coronavirus cases are

identified during that time.

___

BERLIN — The head of the

United Nations said Sunday that

“the Covid-19 pandemic is the

greatest crisis of our age.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio

Guterres opened an online session

of the World Health Summit with

a call for worldwide solidarity in

the global crisis and demanded

that developed countries support

health systems in countries that

are short of resources.

The coronavirus pandemic is

the overarching theme of the summit,

which originally had been

scheduled for Berlin. Several of

the leaders and experts who spoke

at the opening stressed the need

to cooperate across borders.

“No one is safe from COVID-

19. No one is safe until we are all

safe from it,” said German President

Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

“Even those who conquer the

virus within their own borders

remain prisoners within these

borders until it is conquered everywhere.”

More than 42 million have

been infected with the virus and

over 1 million people have died

of Covid.

___

ROME — Italy’s one-day

caseload of confirmed coronavirus

infections jumped past 20,000

on Sunday, with more than a

quarter of the new cases registered

in Lombardy, the northern

region which bore the brunt of the

pandemic in the country earlier

this year.

According to Health Ministry

figures, there were 21,273 new

cases since the previous day,

raising Italy’s total of confirmed

COVID-19 infections to 525,782.

Health Minister Roberto Speranza

said the government’s latest

crackdown on social freedoms,

including closing restaurants

in early evening and shuttering

gyms, for the next 30 days, was

warranted by the growth of the

contagion curve worldwide, with

a “very high wave” in all of Europe.

“Every choice brings sacrifices

and renouncing” activities,

Speranza said. “We must react

immediately and with determination

if we want to avoid unsustainable

numbers.”

Italy’s confirmed death toll in

the pandemic rose to 37,338, with

128 deaths since Saturday.

___

PHOENIX — Arizona health

officials on Sunday reported

1,392 new confirmed cases of

COVID-19 and five additional

deaths. It’s the highest reported

single-day coronavirus case total

in the state since Sept. 17.

Arizona has continued to see

a slow yet steady increase in the

average number of COVID-19

cases reported each day as a decline

that lasted through August

and September reverses.

State Department of Health

Services officials said the latest

numbers increase Arizona’s totals

to 238,163 known infections and

5,874 known deaths.

The number of infections is

thought to be far higher because

many people have not been

tested, and studies suggest people

can be infected with the virus

without feeling sick.