Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tonight (Wednesday) issued a special statement regarding the ways to deal with and prevent the spread of the corona on Purim. Minister of Health Yuli Edelstein, Director General of the Ministry of Health Prof. Hezi Levy, Corona Projector Prof. Nachman Ash, Minister of Internal Security Amir Ohana and Commissioner of Police Ran Yaakov Shabtai also attended the press conference.
The prime minister’s remarks come after the government confirmed yesterday that during the days of Purim, from tomorrow until the beginning of next week, a night curfew will be imposed. Thus, traffic will be restricted between the hours of 5: 00-20: 30.
Netanyahu opened his remarks by saying that “this year we must not repeat what happened on Purim last year. We are all commanded to keep the rules. You can be happy and dress up, but it is important to keep the rules.” Netanyahu clarified: “This is doubly important because we are on the verge of getting out of the plague.”
The prime minister called on people to keep getting vaccinated, saying the country is still 1.2 million people away so we can get back to normal safely. In addition, Netanyahu warned against the false news about vaccines and said: Before the era of vaccines came, the average life expectancy of mankind was 40-30 years. Vaccines, more than anything else have more than doubled our life expectancy. So I ask you, do not believe Pike News, go get vaccinated. ”
Corona vaccines at a bar in Dizengoff (Photo: Reuters)
Netanyahu introduced the The five-step plan His for a safe exit from the corona plague: “the first stage Is now – a green passport A; The second stage In the second week of March – gradual education opening; The third stage Will also happen in the second week of March with a second green passport; The fourth stage It will be the end of March, when we intend to vaccinate the entire adult population over the age of 16 and in April the intention is to reach the opening. Of course, it depends on the level of illness, but we will do what is necessary and we are working on it. “
Netanyahu added: “We will pass Purim in peace to celebrate Pesach together and to be asked ‘What has changed?’ “We can all be vaccinated a quarter of a million a day, which means that in theory we can end the vaccination campaign in five days.”
Asked about the publications regarding the distribution of vaccines to foreign countries, the Prime Minister said: “I agreed with the CEO of Pfizer that we can continue to be vaccinated with Pfizer vaccines without any break or interval – we have more than enough vaccines for all Israeli citizens, and we also have modern vaccines, so we covered. “Everything we give to other parties does not come at the expense of even one vaccine of an Israeli citizen.”
the minister of Health July Edelstein He said: “This Purim must not be reminiscent in any way of the Purim a year ago or the results we received as a result of these celebrations.” Edelstein added: “At the same time there is also a big difference from the previous Purim holiday and it is first and foremost the vaccines. True there are gaps, but a very large number of people deserve to be vaccinated and it is good that way. You can get out of the Purim mitzvah Health “.
Minister of Internal Security Amir Ohana Referring to the restrictions on night closures to be imposed on Purim, he said: “The police are not interested in a confrontation with the civilians, the police have mobilized to fight crime and terrorism and not the spread of the virus, but this weekend the police will be deployed across the country – in cities and abroad.”
Minister Ohana said in response to a question to the police’s selective enforcement: “79% of the reports in January were recorded in red or orange localities, 15% in yellow localities, and only less than 5% in green localities.”
Corona Projector, Prof. Nachman Ash, Referring to the morbidity data: “We are in a deceptive period – on the one hand there are the vaccines and we are vaccinating at an excellent rate, and on the other hand there is also the decrease in morbidity. At the same time, we are still at 3,500 verified daily Difficult We are dealing with a British variant that has spread rapidly and causes a great deal of morbidity and perhaps even a little more severe.In light of all this we are committed to continuing to be careful about our behavior. The graduation party can not start now. We still need to work hard in immunization and also in maintaining procedures. In light of this, we decided on the steps for Purim, there was a very big deliberation on what steps to take and we decided on a night closure to get through the holiday in peace and without much adherence. “
This morning, the Ministry of Health updated that although more than 4.5 million Israelis have already received at least the first dose of the vaccine, the coefficient of infection is again on the rise (0.9). Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said this morning: “The vaccines will not put us in euphoria. We still do not have enough vaccinated (a week after the second vaccine they received) to celebrate without recognizing Purim. So far we have vaccinated more than 4.5 million people, of which 3,147,000 also received a second dose. “Yesterday we vaccinated about 150,000 people.”
Bnei Gantz: “We will have to tighten on Purim” (Photo: Tal Oz, Ministry of Defense)
He added that “to undo the decree of the evil Haman, the people of Israel were on full mutual guarantee and fasting for Esther for three days. I do not ask to fast for three days. I just want to keep the guidelines for the business owners who have just returned, for culture, hotels, education. “Our health, our lives. For our children who still cannot be vaccinated. Do not go to parties, not even to Tishim. Celebrate at home.”
The daily AMN report shows that yesterday 4,395 new corona patients were diagnosed after 6.1% of the 74,164 tests performed were positive. The data also showed that the number of victims since the outbreak of the plague stands at 5,619. The AMN warned that “if the upward trend continues, within In about a week, there may be a recurrence of the disease. “