Israel’s Health Ministry confirmed 3,594 coronavirus cases in the previous 24 hours on Tuesday morning, the highest number of daily cases in months, with tests showing a positivity rate of 4.2%, also a record high number.
There are currently 27,628 active virus cases, with 427 seriously ill patients, of whom 119 are ventilated. The death toll has risen to 3,111.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said on Tuesday that Israel’s situation is critical. “We’ve missed the train…and there’s no escape from a lockdown,” Edelstein said on a visit to a senior care facility that was launching a vaccination program for its residents.
“It will take two to three months until the vaccination program will have an effect. We wasted precious time and the current infection rate means we have no choice but to implement a lockdown.”
Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Chezy Levi told Ynet on Tuesday that Israel is suffering “an infection surge” that demands a speedy response.
Coronavirus czar Prof. Nachman Ash said that the government needs to make an immediate decision to either tighten restrictions or implement a full lockdown.
“Tightened restraint will take around five weeks,” Ash told Army Radio on Tuesday morning. “A full lockdown would be shorter – three weeks at the current infection rate.”
Tightened restrictions would allow the educational system to remain open and would preclude the restriction of movement that a full lockdown may call for.
Ash added that a decision regarding which steps will be taken will be made by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
the highest number of daily cases in months This spans 4 days from end to 11 days from beginning of חנוכה:- Just wondering of the cuff:- Any connection to חנוכה?
What do they mean by “cases”??
Do they mean people with serious symptoms, or people that just happen to sneeze, or do they mean people that tested positive to some test with no symptoms at all?
How significant are these tests?
How many people died in Israel during the past ten months and how many died during the same period of the previous year.
Could someone please publish these very relevant statistics?
If there was no significant increase then what we have is not a corona pandemic but a hysteria pandemic.
Why don’t the authorities publish this very important information so that the public can be aware of the true situation?
Are they hiding something?