By: Aryeh Savir
Israeli health officials expressed cautious optimism over the weekend after the number of positive Coronavirus (COVID-19) tests dropped slightly for the third consecutive day.
After days during which the positive rate was higher than 13% and even reached 15%, the rate dropped on Saturday to 11%. On Friday, the positive rate was 11.8% and on Thursday, 12.1%.
In any case, the rate of positive tests is still very high.
Of the 70,172 active patients in Israel, 1,567 are hospitalized. Some 830 of the patients are in serious condition, of them 223 are on life support.
A total of 1,682 Israelis have died since the outbreak in February, over 700 of them in the last month.
Professor Eran Segal, a scientist at the Weizmann Institute who publishes daily updates on the Corona stats, described on Sunday a situation of “cautious optimism. It is possible that the increase in morbidity in the general sector has been halted, and the rate of infection there is around 1 and in a declining trend.”
He further noted that while in the Arab sector there is a decrease in morbidity, similar to the one seen during the first closure.
In the ultra-Orthodox sector, there is still a peak in the infection rate.
All these trends are seen independently in both the verified and the hospitalized patients, he said.
A report published by the Corona National Information and Knowledge Center stated that “in recent days there has been a certain decrease in the national rate of the percentage of positive Corona tests. However, the current rate – about 10% – is still very high and indicates a much wider scope of illness than is actually detected.”
“It will take several more days until a clearer trend can be determined, and in any case, it must be remembered that the scope of daily infection is much higher (more than 10 times) than the values that will allow Israel to deal effectively with the cutting of infection chains,” the report said.
Minister of Environmental Protection Gila Gamliel announced Sunday that she was diagnosed with Corona. She is the third minister to contract the virus.
“I feel good and hope to recover quickly with God’s help. A good week and complete healing for all Israel’s sick,” she tweeted.
The government is slated to meet on Sunday to decide on its next moves to stem the spread of the virus.
The government on Wednesday evening approved the extension of the country-wide lockdown until October 14.
The closure is expected to continue for a significant period and will probably be extended as the government has apparently lost control of the Coronavirus pandemic in Israel.
(TPS)
