For the first time in two weeks, Israeli dies of COVID-19
An 86-year-old Israeli man, a resident of Kiryat Bialik in the north, hospitalized a week ago in a critical condition with Coronavirus (COVID-19), died Wednesday night at Rambam Hospital in Haifa.
COVID-19 quarantine. Credit: Pixabay.
The man had been twice vaccinated with the Pfizer-developed vaccine against the virus. This is the first case of COVID-19 related death in Israel ןמ two weeks.
The man’s wife, in her seventies, is still hospitalized in moderate-severe condition with COVID-19. Another five patients are currently hospitalized in Rambam Hospital, all of whom have been vaccinated twice and have been infected with the highly contagious Delta (Indian) variant.
In the meantime, the virus is spreading to new locations in the country.
The Ministry of Health updated Thursday night that it documented 518 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the third consecutive in which more the 500 cases were counted.
Of the 74,421 tests done over the past day, 0.7% returned positive.
46 of the patients hospitalized with Corona are in serious condition, 18 of whom are on life support.
Most Corona wards in Israeli hospitals have been closed, but the Ministry of Health has told the hospitals to prepare for their reopening.
6,429 Israelis have died of the virus.
The Delta COVID-19 variant entered the country with passengers who were infected abroad and did not abide by the quarantine requirements. The variant has spread to several cities and locations throughout Israel.
The government has issued a number of directives to contend with the outbreaks, with an emphasis on Israelis returning from abroad who are importing new variants into the country, after the virus almost completely disappeared in the country.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett convened the ministerial committee on dealing with the coronavirus on Wednesday and decide not to act at this time.
“It was determined that the existing strategy of slowing the spread of the virus will continue while causing minimal disruption to the economy and daily routine. It was agreed that implementing the strategy will entail taking certain risks but in the overall consideration, including economic factors, this is the necessary balance,” his office stated.
