Coronavirus czar states infection rate stabilizes ‘hope sign’

Israel tightened restrictions on movement, schools and trade for its third full lockdown on January 9, in a bid to halt the rise of disease despite the success of the country’s vaccination campaign which saw nearly 2 million Israelis vaccine.

The country has already begun administering the second dose in the two-stage vaccine, three weeks after the delivery of the first dose.

“There may be some reason to be optimistic, as the graph showing the extent of the disease has not gone up abruptly, but it has started to bend a bit,” Ash said.

“One can look at this with optimism despite the current vaccination campaign and closure … We hope to see a reduction in the number of people who are seriously ill these days. ahead, ”he said.

“We estimate that the vaccines have the first effect after about 10 days, so we should start to see their effects.”

Ash said while the tight closure is expected to last for at least two weeks, the exact date on which the closure will be lifted remains unconfirmed due to a number of variables.

“We have not yet set a target date for the end of the closure, which is ready for two weeks and is expected to end on the night between [January 22 and 23], ”Ash said.

“Right now we are thinking about what the criteria should be for ending the closure. We are considering whether to pick it up or recommend that it be continued.

“If we see a reduction in the number of cases of serious illness, we can lift the closure even though the number of daily infections is higher than we originally expected. So we have not set a clear target. situation. ”

Ash also commented on the recent emergence in Israel of the curved rays found in the UK and South Africa.

According to the czar, while UK snoring accounts for around 10-20% of all coronavirus cases in Israel, the South African strain is responsible for much less.

“This is something we are trying very hard to contain. We push for issues like that that come up on their own immediately, ”said Ash.

He also confirmed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assessment that all Israeli citizens from the age of 16 will be able to receive the coronavirus vaccine by the end of March.

“We want to get vaccinated for a large part of the population, five million vaccines by the end of March and the beginning of April,” he said.

“We have reached a capacity of 150,000 vaccines every day. In a few days we will have to give the same amount of the second dose of vaccine, ”said Ash.

“Add to that the new vaccine that needs a second dose. Therefore, we want to increase the number of daily vaccines to 200,000. “

Ash also said he is satisfied that the country is starting to use the Moderna vaccine that came from Germany last week. So far Israeli vaccines have only used the Pfizer vaccine.

“[The Moderna vaccine] differs from the Pfizer vaccine in several ways: it does not need to be diluted, it comes in a vial ready for injection, a vial has ten secretions compared to five or six, and it can last longer than the vaccine Pfizer after that. it has been removed from cooling, making it more sustainable, ”he said.

Ash’s comments come as Israel’s international vaccination campaign prepares to encourage teachers – after giving the vaccine only to medical workers, at-risk groups and older people 60.

The aim is to start teacher vaccination on Wednesday and complete the work within three days.

Despite the success of the vaccination campaign, the Ministry of Health announced Sunday that Israel ‘s 1,029 COVID patients are now in poor condition, an increase of nearly 300 since the beginning of January.