A third Israeli has died of coronavirus: An 87-year-old man who was infected with the novel virus and who already suffered from a number of pre-existing medical conditions died Tuesday at Hadassah Medical Center. He arrived at the hospital a day prior in respiratory distress. His status rapidly deteriorated and he died shortly thereafter, the hospital said. The patient was brought to Hadassah by the Nofim Geriatric Center, where he lived.
Shortly before, the name of the second coronavirus patient who died was given as Malka Kever, 67, from Bat Yam. She died at Wolfson Hospital. She, too, had pre-existing conditions. “Our intensive care team fought for her life with great dedication, the hospital said, “but her condition deteriorated.”
Kever was patient number 445. She had previously volunteered at the hospital where she died, according to N12, until she was diagnosed with cancer in the last year. Her family members, who are in isolation, called on the public to “stay home.” “Don’t go out, you risk yourself, your children, your relatives and people you don’t know,” Kever’s daughter, Dorit, told N12. “My mother gave her life, gave her soul to the Creator because of this illness. We are hurting, we are sad.” Over the weekend, the first Israeli to die of coronavirus, an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor, passed away. The news of Israel’s latest victims comes on the backdrop of statements made overnight by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that 10,000 Israelis could die from the novel coronavirus and one million could be infected. He made his comments during a seven-hour meeting with top officials about ongoing efforts to stop the spread of the virus.
“We could reach a million infected within a month,” the prime minister said according to a report on N12. “There could also be 10,000 dead Israelis.” So far, there have been 16,713 people who have died from coronavirus worldwide. The country with the highest number of deaths is Italy at 6,077.
A government official who was present at the hearing told N12 that there is a sense among decision makers that some ministers and the public have still not internalized the rapid spread and infection rate of the coronavirus. Deputy Director General of the Health Ministry, Itamar Grotto, said that the country is preparing for much stricter guidelines: “Only medical services, food and pharmaceuticals will remain open,” he said in an interview published by the Hebrew website Ynet, “and the services needed to provide these things – electricity, water, etc.” He said that while such a move “may sound extreme, I think we even need to close some of the grocery stores and maybe hand out prepared meals to some parts of the public.” But later in the day, the Health Ministry released a statement explaining that Grotto was not talking about any restrictions that will be rolled out in the near future and that they were “only a possibility that we have considered only under extreme circumstances.” The ministry said such a lockdown is not currently on the agenda.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan took to social media on Tuesday to reiterate this message: “Supermarkets and drug stores will not be closed,” the minister wrote on Twitter, “nor will access to them be restricted, nor will [access to] stores that sell other necessary things.”
As of Tuesday morning, 1,656 Israelis have been diagnosed with coronavirus, according to the Health Ministry. Of those, 31 were in serious condition, an increase of three people from the day before. It is assumed that one of the 31 was the 67-year-old woman who has now passed away.
The ministry reported that the majority still have mild cases of the virus – 1,528 – and another 47 people are in moderate condition.
So far, only one other person has died from the novel coronavirus – an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor, who reported to also have been suffering from pre-existing conditions. The man in his 60s who died Monday at Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital) in Tel Aviv and was suspected of having coronavirus had not contracted the disease, the hospital reported. Test results revealed that the man had respiratory symptoms and his death, as determined by the hospital, was probably from a different viral disease.
In an related development, a premature baby at the prenatal ward of Shaare Tzedek Medical Center in Jerusalem was reported on Tuesday as not having had the novel coronavirus after it was earlier reported that a worker of the ward was infected with the virus and might have infected him. All the premature babies in the ward were found to not have the virus, and the hospital is working alongside the Health Ministry to proceed with removing the workers of the ward out of quarantine per the regulations.
Some 49 people have recovered from the virus. So far, more than 135,000 Israelis have spent time in quarantine. The Health Ministry said that 71,029 are in isolation now, including another member of Israel’s government. Diaspora Affairs Minister Tzipi Hotovely became the latest MK to enter home quarantine on Tuesday, bringing the number up to eight. Hotovely came in contact with a deputy director-general of her ministry who was later diagnosed with the virus. She will need to be quarantined until April 1.
Hotovely is the sixth MK from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-center bloc in quarantine, joining ministers Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud), Arye Deri (Shas), Bezalel Smotrich (Yamina) and Shas MKs Itzik Cohen and Moshe Abutbul.
The only quarantined MKs from the left-center bloc are Alon Shuster and Ran Ben-Barak.
The number of infected people is expected to climb as Israel conducts more coronavirus tests. In the last 24 hours, more than 3,700 people were screened. On Monday, Magen David Adom opened up three more drive-through testing complexes: in Jerusalem, Beersheba and Haifa. In total according to the ministry, 27,054 tests have been taken. Netanyahu spent seven-hours in meetings with relevant top officials on Monday to discuss a new series of restrictions that could impact movements of the Israeli public. His office said dialogue would continue overnight and details of the new measures would be released sometime on Tuesday. Among the possible measures are that people would only be allowed to leave their homes within 100 meters; Leisure activities would only be allowed within walking distance and sporting events in general would be subject to restrictions. Channel 12 said that new regulations are not likely to include specific orders for those over 65 but rather a general recommendation not to leave their homes. Essential workers who fall in that age range would be allowed to leave but to do so with caution.
Existing guidelines would not change with regards to traveling to and from work; the ability to buy food, medicine or other essential products would not be limited even after the decision is approved, the Prime Minister’s Office explained. In the discussions on Monday, Channel 12 said, ensuring that Police had the necessary tools to enforce the restrictions was also discussed. But shortly after the meetings, Education Minister Rafi Peretz ensured the public that as of now the plan is to re-open schools after the Passover holiday, at least via remote learning.
As of now, only high school students have a full remote learning program and other grades are not formally studying.
The Health Ministry’s guidelines have also hurt the economy, pushing Israel’s unemployment rate to 19% as of Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. So far, the Israeli Employment Service said that some 633,939 people applied for unemployment benefits in March, including 18,105 people between 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
According to Bank of Israel estimates published on Tuesday, current measures to contain the novel coronavirus are likely to result in an unemployment rate of approximately 7% – an increase of 150,000 people – by the end of 2020.
Damage to Israel’s GDP is estimated to reach NIS 50 billion ($13.9b.), although this is likely to increase should the outbreak continue beyond current expectations or if further restrictions on economic activity are implemented.
“We must help individuals whose company or turnover has been impacted, and they must continue to meet their ongoing expenses,” said Bank of Israel Governor Prof. Amir Yaron. “We also need to help those who have been made redundant, or have been placed on unpaid leave and their income has been affected dramatically. This is what governments around the world are doing, and on a huge scale.”
While welcoming financial aid measures already announced by the Finance Ministry, Yaron said it will be necessary to establish a “significant financial safety net” of at least NIS 15b. ($4.2b.). The unemployment rate was 4% before the virus. The Finance Ministry has insisted that if a full state of emergency closure is implemented, the economy could not be restored.
On Tuesday, the food vendors of Mahaneh Yehuda Market received some good news. Tali Friedman, head of the market’s association, posted that she and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion had reached a preliminary agreement that would allow the market’s shops to open for delivery only. She said that more details would be released later in the day. Gil Hoffman contributed to this report.
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