According to the Health Ministry’s Sunday morning report, 2,557 new patients tested positive for the coronavirus, based on 24,781 tests. This shows a continuing decline every day since the high mark of 8,568 new patients recorded on September 30 and 7,996 on Oct. 1. The following two days showed roughly 5,500 new patients, leading to Saturday’s much lower figure. It remains to be seen whether Sunday’s tests will show a stable trend of declining infections.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic in February, 264,857 Israelis have been infected, including 70,172 active patients. 193,002 patients have recovered. The number of patients in critical condition is 830, including 223 on respirators, and 312 patients are defined as moderate. The death toll since the outbreak remains 1,682.
Prof. Eran Segal of the Weizmann Institute told Army Radio on Sunday morning that “there is a decrease in morbidity in the Arab society, and we are also seeing a decrease in the number of verified and hospitalized patients.”
He stressed that “our recent analyses show that in the general sector there is a curb in morbidity. The coefficient of infection is around 1 and in a declining trend.”
In a later tweet, Segal added: “We should mention that the level of morbidity is high, so braking it is a necessary first step, but from here we need to see a transition from braking to establishing a downward trend to low levels that can be controlled with an array of epidemiological investigations.”
Home Front Command Chief Brigadier General Itzik Bar explained that reaching a significant curbing of the spread of the disease will happen, but not inside the goal of 48 hours that was set earlier. It will take longer. He noted that “we are going to reach a target of 100,000 tests a day on November 1, and right now all our efforts are concentrated on that.”
However, according to Prof. Segal, the Haredi society is at the height of the spread of the pandemic. “The least encouraging figure is in the Haredi sector, where we see that we are in fact at the height of the expansion,” he said. “We are seeing an increase in all the indices, in the number of verified patients, in the rate of hospitalizations, in the mortality rate and the percentage of positive tests.”
Near midnight on Saturday, police raided the Vizhnitz Chasidim’s study hall in Bnei Brak after receiving intelligence about a Tish and a Simchat Beit Hashoeva celebration with the participation of a multitude of Chasidim, contrary to the Health Ministry’s guidelines. But when they arrived, someone had alerted the Chasidim, who cleared the place in a hurry. The police force found a few individuals who were studying Gemara – and issued 500-shekel summonses to each one of them.
At the Biala Chasidic court in Bnei Brak, an order was issued to keep all their study halls and mikvahs open 24 hours a day. The Biala Rebbe ordered not to count in a minyan those who cooperate with the police and inform on illegal prayer services. The Rebbe promised that anyone who came to pray and cleanse before God would not be harmed at all.
Prof. Hagai Levin, chairman of the Association of Public Health Physicians, attacked the government’s lockdown policy and said: “When a doctor gives the wrong treatment then you don’t receive the benefit but you get the side effects. This is a fake lockdown, it’s causing the public to lose faith. We need to allow people to go out into nature, to permit small businesses to work.”