Coronavirus in Israel: Gov’t appoints special airport commissioner

Maj.-Gen. (res.) Roni Numa has been appointed as a special coronavirus airport commissioner, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Sunday.

“For a year and a half now, there has been a huge national weak point, and that is Ben-Gurion Airport,” Bennett said while opening the government meeting. “Therefore, in coordination with the transportation minister, the health minister and the interior minister, we decided to appoint a special director to handle transitions and prevent the entry of this virus and future variants and viruses from around the world into Israel.”

The prime minister added that this mission will be relevant also for the future, in case the vaccine stops working as well as it does now or if a new variant emerges that can defeat it.

“Israel does not have a lot of border crossings – in fact, it is kind of an island state. There is no reason why we cannot defend ourselves even if there was no vaccine,” he said.

Numa already worked to coordinate the effort to defeat the pandemic in the ultra-Orthodox sector and in Bnei Brak.

Bennett also promised to counter the new increase in coronavirus cases by promoting less invasive measures such as masks over restrictions and lockdowns.

“In the past week there has been an increase in the number of identified cases in Israel, but it must be said, there is no corresponding increase in the number of hospitalized patients,” the prime minister said. “However, people should know: the Delta variant does harm unvaccinated people.”

“Our approach is simple: maximum protection for Israeli citizens, with minimum harm to routine and the economy in Israel; masks instead of restrictions, vaccines instead of lockdowns,” he added.

Over the course of a few days, active cases in Israel have surged from less than 200 to almost 1,200. While the weekly average of daily cases in the first half of June stood at around 15 new identified virus carriers per day, it has currently surpassed 140.

Some 113 new cases of COVID were reported in Israel on Saturday, with 0.4% of tests returning positive, according to a Sunday morning update by the Health Ministry. While on Friday and Thursday the country registered double the amount of new virus carriers – 228 and 229 – the number of tests performed on Saturday was also significantly lower: 32,000 compared to 52,000.

Meanwhile, the number of patients in serious conditions remains stable at 26. In addition, only seven people have succumbed to the virus in June so far, the lowest monthly death toll since the beginning of the pandemic.

In January/February, at the peak of the third wave, thousands of new cases and dozens of new victims were registered every day. The number of serious patients stood at 1,200, overwhelming the health system.