Israel is set to extend winter time, which was due to end this week, by at least a month to stop the public from wandering the streets and prevent further spread of coronavirus.

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Attorey General Avichai Mandelblit on Sunday approved a request made by the Interior Ministry to include the extension of standard time into the state of emergency orders currently in place due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

City workers disinfect streets in Rishon Letzion ( Photo: Shahar Goldstein )

The Government ICT Authority (Information and communications technology), however, said they oppose the move since the passage between daylight saving time and winter time is built into the operating systems of most computers and smart phones and cannot be updated before the clock is moved later this week.

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri on Saturday evening apparently spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Health Minister Yaakov Litzman and Defense Minister Naftali Bennett and informed them of his intention to delay the daylight saving time, which was set to being on a night between Thursday and Friday.

City workers disinfect streets in Rishon Letzion ( Photo: Shahar Goldstein )

The Interior Ministry believes the extension of winter time will prevent people from congregating and adhere strictly to the Health Ministry's guidelines meant to stop the spread of the new virus.

"A few days ago, I proposed to delay daylight saving time to prevent children and adults from being outside the home for an additional hour, thus reducing the use of public spaces,” said Deri.

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri ( Photo: Yoav Dudkevich )

“I consulted with the prime minister on this and received his agreement in principle.”