(Photo: Alex Gamburg, Alex Bortman)
Nine hours before the start of the third closure, today (Sunday) at 17:00, the Ministry of Health published the daily corona data, which show that, as in the past week, the rate of positive tests was higher than 4%. Yesterday, the number of Israelis diagnosed as positive for the corona virus was 2,630, a relatively low number due to the small number of tests on Saturday. The positive rate was 4.1% and in total more than 63,000 corona tests were performed. In 36 localities, more than 200 active patients. At the same time, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein updated that about 280,000 people have been vaccinated so far, 71,000 of them over the weekend.
In the last seven days, more than 540,000 tests have been performed and the positive rate was about 4.3%. The number of people infected with the outbreak has reached almost 400,000 or more precisely – 399,642 have been confirmed for the virus.
Recent purchases before closing
(Photo: Roi Idan, Meshi Ben Ami, Haim Goldich )
1,054 corona patients are hospitalized in hospitals across the country. 584 of them are in critical condition – 91 more than the number of serious patients on Monday last week. According to the Ministry of Health, the number of respirators this morning is 133. Since the outbreak of the plague, 3,210 corona patients have died in Israel, 112 of them last week.
On August 21, after almost half a year of an epidemic, the number of people infected in the country reached 100,000. After a month and two (September 23), the 200,000 mark was crossed, and only three weeks (15/10) were required to reach 300,000 verified. Today, after almost two and a half more months, we will reach 400,000 positive for the virus. Due to the rapid increase in recent days, it is estimated that half a million verified Israelis will reach Corona before the end of January.
There are currently 35,525 active Corona patients in Israel – almost one in five of them is a resident of Jerusalem. In Jerusalem 7,005 active patients (red city according to the traffic light), in Bnei Brak 1,351 (red), in Tel Aviv 1,177 (orange), in Haifa 1,078 (orange), in Ashdod 860 (orange), in Petah Tikva 799 (yellow), in Beit Shemesh 582 (red) ), In Nazareth 582 (red), in Rishon Lezion 547 (yellow), in Be’er Sheva 502 (yellow) and in Netanya 500 (yellow).
In Holon 490 active corona patients (yellow at the traffic light), in Modi’in Illit 479 (red), in Tamra 428 (red), in Beit Illit 360 (red), in Ashkelon 351 (yellow), in Shefar’am 299 (orange), in Rehovot 272 (yellow), in Modi’in Maccabim Reut 264 (orange), in Kiryat Ata 263 (red), Marar 262 (red), Sakhnin 261 (orange), Elad 258 (red), Bat Yam 256 (yellow), Kiryat Gat 252 (orange), Lod 250 (yellow) , In Ramat Gan 244 (yellow), in Hadera 236 (orange), in Kabul 225 (red), in Givat Zeev 224 (red), in Umm al-Fahm 223 (orange), in Ramla 222 (yellow), in Ma’ale Adumim 220 (red), in Dalyat al Carmel 209 (red), Tiberias 205 (red) and Nahariya 205 (orange).
Only three cities in Israel remain green. These are Dimona (traffic light score 4.5), Nesher (4.3) and Eilat (3.8).
280,000 have already received a first dose of vaccine. Edelstein
(Photo: GPO )
In addition, the vaccination campaign is expected to expand from today following the opening of another 150 stations and giving priority to chronic patients as well. By Tuesday, another 80 vaccination stations will open, and Rambam and Ichilov hospitals are beginning to vaccinate not only members of the medical staff but also those aged 60 and over. More hospitals are expected to join them.
Netanyahu on the vaccination campaign
Meanwhile, today at 5:00 PM, Israel will enter a third closure designed to stem the rise in morbidity. As part of the lessons of the previous closure, this time the police will focus on enforcing prohibited gatherings, at the expense of roadblocks.
The police decided that during the day there would be no permanent barriers on the intercity roads to enforce the distance limit from the place of residence. Checkpoints will be set up intermittently only from the evening hours. In addition, the police will prefer advocacy over reporting. The checkpoints that will be set up on the long-distance roads during the day will not be fixed, but “skip”, meaning vehicles will move from point to point, especially in the center of the country, and set up checkpoints.
The reason for the change is the understanding in the police that most citizens have a permit from the workplace to move from place to place, and in order to avoid the unnecessary traffic jams that were in the previous closures. A total of 21 “skipping” checkpoints will be operated during the day. From 18:30 every evening we see more than 300 permanent checkpoints on intercity roads, until midnight.