“Yesterday there were two mass funeral events and we heard about parties at the weekend,” he noted. “I strongly condemn the events, call on the leaders to prevent them and call on the police to take action. The closure continues, and every day of adherence to the guidelines is extremely important. “
“At this point in time we are facing some challenges,” he said. “The decrease in the number of verified patients has stopped. The infection rate ranges from 0.9 to 0.96. This is an expression of a halt in the decrease in morbidity. There is a very moderate decrease in the number of new difficult patients coming to hospitals, and a very moderate decrease in hospitalized.
On the spread of the mutations: “We estimate that the prevalence of the British mutation is up to 70% of the number of positive tests per day. In total, its prevalence is high – we found about 80 cases of the South African mutation, and we work to locate each case among those returning from abroad. And also in the country. We started the process of a statistical sample of mapping the samples in the country. The mapping will be able to indicate the prevalence of mutations in Israel more accurately. “
“It is important to continue to vaccinate people aged 60 and over”
Regarding returning to school: “We very much want to resume activity in the education system. This is very important. Hopefully we will reach an outline that will find the balance between the need to continue school and student health. The British mutation harms and infects a younger population more frequently.”
Prof. Ash was asked when the vaccination campaign will be opened for the entire population. “We still want to continue to make efforts to vaccinate the population at risk. There are more than 200,000 people over the age of 60 who have not yet been vaccinated. I do not think we have exhausted the efforts to reach this maximum population. The importance of preventing morbidity and mortality is still needed. “This population. We will be able to open when we find this population and we will have enough vaccines. I am aware that there are a lot of people at a younger age who have been vaccinated under equal opportunities with the funds, but I expect them to put effort into at-risk populations.”
“Encouraging data”
Meanwhile, today there were discussions to assess the situation in the health system, and there was talk of a decrease in the number of patients who are difficult per day. As is well known, this is one of the significant indicators for exiting the current closure. According to the data presented, there is a decrease in the number of severe patients from 140-130 per day to 110-100. No change was recorded in all other indices.
According to Prof. Ash in the briefing, “the number of patients who are difficult for the day is gradually decreasing, by the end of the week it will be 100 and we will see the extent of the decrease in the following days. The closure today will affect serious illness in 10 days.”
Dr. Erez Barenboim, director general of Assuta Ashdod Public Hospital, commented on the situation: “Regarding the war against the Corona, the State of Israel is not yet where we thought it would be due to the closure and restrictions. The infection rate has not decreased in recent days and we attribute it mainly to the British mutation.
“The trend is of moderation, but not of decline,” he stated. “However, if there is any encouraging data these days, it is the fact that the number of serious patients has started to decline, and from 140-130 serious patients to date, we have dropped to 110-100 patients a day. In conclusion: there is still a long way to go.”