Health Ministry Public Health Services Director Professor Sigal Sadetzky announced Tuesday that all the signs appear to indicate that Israel is at the start of a second wave of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.
“From a three-week period in which we were seeing 20 (new) patients a day, and things seemed to be improving, we are gradually increasing,” Sadetzky said. “When you look at it, it looks like the beginning of a wave.”
Lack of adherence to the Health Ministry guidelines that are aimed at preventing the spread of the virus has led to the increase in the number of cases, she warned.
“The main question today is . . . to what extend are we determined to maintain awareness of social distancing, masks, hygiene and sticking to the guidelines,” she said.
“I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but it’s very clear that without all that, the disease comes back.”
Within the past 24 hours, there were 258 new cases of the virus in the State of Israel, according to the Health Ministry. Of those, 11 were members of the staff at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital, including five who were asymptomatic. In addition, an orthopedic doctor at Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva and in the Clalit HMO is infected as well.
There are 40 patients in very serious condition, including 31 who require ventilator support, and 44 patients who are in fair or moderate condition. A total of 19,338 Israelis have been ill with the virus since the start of the pandemic, and 302 Israelis have lost their lives to the virus.
In the education sector, 52 more students and teachers have also tested positive for the virus, bringing the total to 627 active infections in the Israeli education system. As a result, 170 schools have been closed in response, including four new schools that were shut on Tuesday when new infections were discovered: the Eshel HaNasi high school near Be’er Sheva and its elementary school in Lehavim nearby, after several members of one family were diagnosed with COVID-19. In addition, the Haim Hefer elementary school in Netanya was closed after a first grade student was diagnosed, and a school in Acre, called Tomer which closed with all students and staff told to go into quarantine after an epidemiological investigation by the Health Ministry.
There are now a total of 21,807 students, teachers and staff in quarantine.
The coronavirus cabinet is set to meet on Wednesday following the increase in the morbidity rate of COVID-19 in Israel, according to a report by Channel 13 News.
