Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced Wednesday at a briefing that the government will invest NIS 2.5 billion as a “booster” to strengthen the country’s health care system and medical staff in their fight against the super contagious COVID-19 Delta variant.
“Delta is conquering the world,” Bennett said in remarks delivered at Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv.
(Remarks are in Hebrew language)
“Every family who loses someone to the coronavirus hurts us,” he said. “So does every businessperson who loses his livelihood due to a coronavirus lockdown; so does every child who sat at home for 200 days this year and learned only through Zoom.”
As part of its battle plan, the government plans to hire 2,000 more medical staff nationwide – doctors, nurses, hospital staff and paramedics – to help prepare for a predicted “significant increase in hospitalized COVID patients,” Bennett said.
Under the plan, 100 doctors, 500 nurses and 3,000 more medical students will be added to the health care system, plus IDF medics and paramedics who will be enlisted to visit and help coronavirus patients during their “hospitalization at home.” For the children of the medical personnel, the government will set up afternoon programs and summer camps so their parents will be able to care for the coronavirus patients in their various caseloads.
Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz added in his own remarks that the increase in medical personnel across the country will be a permanent upgrade.
COVID-19 Snapshot
The Health Ministry reported the diagnosis on Tuesday of 5,755 new cases of the coronavirus out of more than 127,000 tests for the virus, with a positivity rate of 4.59 percent. Eleven people died in Israel from the coronavirus on Tuesday alone.
For the first time since March, the number of COVID-19 patients listed in serious-to-critical condition on Wednesday morning topped 400, with 87 of those in critical condition and 62 being maintained on ventilators to keep them alive.
At least 964 IDF soldiers have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to an announcement by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. One of the new cases is a soldier in serious condition.
In addition, 1,758 soldiers and personnel are currently in quarantine, the IDF said.
Israel’s Education Ministry has predicted that by the start of the public school year on September 1, health officials will find that some 5,000 students are ill with the coronavirus – with or without symptoms.
These figures and others in the daily “snapshot” of coronavirus statistics offers a look at why the Israeli government appears to be gearing up for war.
More than 90 walk-in testing sites have been opened across the country for Israelis who need PCR test results for travel. To access a website listing the locations by region with data such as open hours, cost, etc., click here.
https://www.coronatestisrael.com .
New Vaccine Supply
The latest shipment of coronavirus vaccine arrived Wednesday at Ben-Gurion International Airport from Pfizer BioNTech, according to a report by Channel N12 News.
A supply of 10,000 new doses of the vaccine that was supposed to arrive in September was moved up in accordance with an agreement between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.
More than 650,000 Israeli senior citizens and those with compromised immune systems have received a third, booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Wednesday, the Health Ministry said.
If You Are Not Vaccinated
For those who are not yet vaccinated nor have ever contracted the coronavirus, the clinical research department at Hadassah is currently conducting a stage-2 clinical trial of the new coronavirus vaccine developed by the Israel Biological Institute at Ness Tziona.
Around 100 volunteer subjects are still needed for the project.