By: Aryeh Savir
Israel’s Ministry of Health on Sunday issued a directive to all hospitals and health institutions ordering them to prepare for the immediate reopening of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) wards, as the number of infections in the country continued to grow.
“In light of a recent increase in the morbidity of the COVID-19 virus in recent weeks, an increase in the number of hospitalized patients, an increase in the cumulative number of severely ill patients, and an increase in the number of staff who are in isolation following exposure to patients and staff, the guideline is to prepare for the immediate opening of a single designated ward in the hospital, “wrote Dr. Sigal Liberant-Taub, Head of the General Medicine Division of the Ministry of Health.
The Ministry of Health updated Saturday night that there are 4,668 active patients in Israel, 294 new cases registered in the past 24 hours.
The patients include 40 in serious condition, of them 27 are on life support, 49 in moderate condition, and the rest in mild condition.
Since the beginning of the outbreak in the country, 20,633 people have been diagnosed with the virus and 15,659 people have recovered. 305 have died.
In the past week, 1,646 new Corona patients were diagnosed in Israel, more than in the entire month of May.
A report by the IDF’s National Coronavirus Information and Knowledge Center released over the weekend warned that “the state of Israel is currently experiencing a second wave of Coronavirus that differs in its characteristics from the first wave but is no less severe.”
The IDF’s Intelligence Division compiled the report using its unique technical abilities to reach its findings.
The report noted that over the past few weeks the number of new Coronavirus infections has risen consistently. In the week of May 21-15, the average daily number of recorded infections was 16, and four weeks later, the daily average stands at 200.
The report cautions that if no actions are taken and the current rate of growth does not decrease significantly, remaining in the range of 4% to 8% per day, then in about a month, the number of new infections will be over 1,000 a day and the total number of deaths will reach “many hundreds.”
However, Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Health Professor Itamar Grotto told Israel Radio on Sunday morning that “there is no reason to go back, we can open the economy” and continue with the easing of the COVID-19 related restrictions.
“You have to get used to living in the shadow of the Corona, and at the same time fight it as we know – epidemiological investigations, case location of infections and the use of masks,” he said.
(TPS)
