Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu‏‏ said on Motzei Yom Kippur that Israel’s hospitals are preparing to increase their capacity to treat 1,500 seriously ill coronavirus patients by Thursday, October 1.

The prime minister held a series of discussions with senior health officials and other government officials before Yom Kippur about steps to fight the coronavirus as well as gradual steps to emerge from the current lockdown.

Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Chezy Levy warned on Sunday that Israel is “almost at the point of no return” and that he doesn’t anticipate that Israel will be able to emerge from the lockdown immediately after Sukkos.

The coronavirus cabinet will convene on Wednesday to make decisions regarding Israel’s next steps to reduce the infection rate as well as methods to safely emerge from the lockdown.

Another 3,500 coronavirus cases were confirmed on Motzei Yom Kippur, with the low number corresponding to the reduced number of tests performed in the past two days. The number of active coronavirus cases is 66,639, with 763 seriously ill patients, of whom a record number of 208 are ventilated. Thirty-three fatalities were recorded over Yom Kippur, raising the death toll to 1,499.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)