The number of coronavirus cases in Israel showed additional signs of beginning to level on Friday morning, as the Health Ministry confirmed that 13,107 people have been diagnosed with the virus.
So far, 158 people have died of SARS-CoV-2 in Israel and 3,247 have recovered.
Of the country’s 167 serious patients, 118 are on ventilators – an 8.6% drop from the day before, in line with the flattening of the curve. Moreover, the number of patients in serious condition similarly dropped by 8.3%.
A slight decrease was noticed in the number of active patients as well over the past 36 hours. While the number of active cases rose from 9,764 on Wednesday morning to 9,827 on Thursday morning, it then decreased slightly to 9,803 on Thursday evening and then fell again to 9,740 on Friday morning, below Wednesday morning’s total. The number of new cases per day also dropped slightly on Wednesday with 455 new cases compared to 460 on Tuesday and then dropped more drastically on Thursday when there were only 257 new cases confirmed. The number of daily tests conducted has increased and decreased overtime, so it is unclear if the drop in active cases is correlated to those numbers. The Health Ministry tested 11,908 people for the novel coronavirus on Thursday – the most in any one day so far. As of Friday morning, 97 new cases had been confirmed, but that number will most likely rise once the usual evening update is released.
Overnight, Israeli leaders agreed on a plan to begin opening the economy by Sunday, the Prime Minister’s Office announced.
After hours of heated debate, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted the principals for an exit strategy that were presented to him by the National Security Council on Thursday. The plan was drafted with the help of a team of scientists, doctors and economists and balanced between the opposing viewpoints of the Finance, Health, Economy and Defense ministries.
The government will gradually open a limited number of businesses, which will be subject to the rules and restrictions that the Health and Finance ministries will determine by Saturday night.
In addition, the plan calls for permitting exercise and sports up to 500 meters from home and re-opening small-scale special education programs.
The final plan will be drafted and brought to a vote by the cabinet on Saturday night.
Jerusalem continues to have the highest number of cases in Israel at 2,524, with 276 out of every 100,000 residents infected with the virus. The Health Ministry has also conducted the most tests in the capital: 24,769 so far. The second highest number of cases (2,258) is in Bnei Brak, where 10,719 people have been tested and 1,156 out of every 100,000 are infected – more than four times as many per capita as Jerusalem.
In terms of per-capita infections disregarding recoveries and deaths, Bnei Brak is leading, while Jerusalem is 15th on the list.
All other Israeli cities have less than 1,000 cases.
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