Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Tuesday with a special “advisory committee” to help determine next steps in battling the novel coroanvirus.On Tuesday, Israel hit a new record for the number of people diagnosed with the novel coronavirus in a single day: 1,681 people on Monday, the Health Ministry reported on Tuesday. Some 27,514 people were screened, making the infection rate 6.2%.The committee was considering a set of new restrictions, including potentially reducing gathering limits from 20 to 10 people, Israel media reported. However, the meeting left without a decision on any new directives.Among other top officials in attendance were former Health Ministry director-general Moshe Bar Siman Tov, who helped mediate the first wave of the virus.
“I do not think we have lost control of the epidemic,” Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said during an interview with Army Radio Tuesday morning. “Anyone who thinks that the virus cannot be caught and strangled does not know what he is talking about.”
There were 177 patients in serious condition.
Between midnight and 10:15 a.m. Tuesday morning, 254 people were reported to be infected. So far, the country has had 41,235 people with the virus.
Edelstein told the radio station, however, that he is “still optimistic. I think the public is more disciplined, and you see it. There are a lot more masks.”
He said that even if Israel chose to implement a full closure, the number of cases would continue to rise for a couple of weeks, as Israel is seeing now, in the aftermath of the latest restrictions.
Edelstein stressed that the decision by the Knesset coronavirus committee to re-open pools and gyms was unfounded and dangerous, claiming that it was based on “a lack of understanding,” which “will lead us to a complete closure, something I have been trying to prevent since my first day in office.”His interview came around the same time as an interview with Israel Medical Association chair Prof. Zion Hagai on Kan radio, who in contrast said that Israel should prepare for a closure. He said that as soon as there are 2,000 new people infected each day, a lockdown should be declared. “The issue is not only a concern about the inadequacy of the health system when it comes to the number of coronavirus patients,” he said, “but also a concern for the treatment of patients suffering from other diseases.”
On Monday, Health Ministry director-general Chezy Levy stressed during a press briefing that “we are in a wave of morbidity that is increasing.” He warned that this could lead to a general closure, but that this was something the government would only do as a last resort because it carries with it such a heavy economic, mental and health toll.
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