Israel counts 10,000 COVID-19 dead
Israel passed a grim milestone on Tuesday when it counted 10,001 Israelis who died of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country a bit over two years ago.
Inside the Coronavirus Unit in Herzog Medical Center in Jerusalem as the 4th COVID-19 wave driven by Delta variant is continuing to spread across Israel. Jerusalem, Aug 3, 2021. Photo by Shalev Shalom/TPS
Israel is at the tail-end of its fifth wave of infections, the Omicron variant wave, and while deaths from the virus in the past week have dropped by 44% in comparison to the week before that, 228 Israelis died of the virus in the past seven days, including 22 on Sunday.
The R coefficient is dropping very slowly, indicating a slow retreat of the virus.
The government has lauded its policies as successful in handling the virus, but critics say that its minimal and slow-to-develop actions caused a high number of infections and deaths.
Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that he asked Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to administer the fourth COVID-19 vaccine a whole month before Bennett actually did so. Furthermore, experts say that introducing the Green Pass restrictions earlier on would have saved lives.
Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman said Monday that he is “at one” with the decision not to impose closures due to the Coronavirus, despite the high death toll.
Asked during the Makor Rishon conference “are you completely okay with this? Because a thousand people have died in the last month,” he replied positively and explained that “all life is risk management so the decision is very simple, and overall we made unpopular decisions, right decisions and I am happy that we received them.”
“In the end, our whole life is risk management and you have to make difficult decisions often. It’s not just going to war, but let’s say we know that every year in road accidents unfortunately 350 people will die, depending on what year. We know this in advance, and no one outlaws the vehicle,” he asserted.
As at 24 Feb 22 Australia, with a population of 25 million, was 5,052 dead while New Zealand’s was 56 dead.