Israel takes action against COVID-19 outbreaks
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held a meeting with the relevant government officials on Sunday evening regarding the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreaks in Israel, following multiple cases of infections in schools in two cities in the country.
COVID-19 quarantine. Credit: Pixabay.
At this stage, the weak points are the spread of the Delta (Indian) variant throughout the world, visits by Israelis to these countries, and the fact that many of those returning from abroad are not adhering to the quarantine directives and infecting others in Israel, the Prime Minister’s Office noted.
An IDF report shows that the Indian variant is 60% more contagious than the British stain, the dominant one in Israel, and causes 2.5 more hospitalizations. However, the Pfizer-developed vaccine, with which the majority of Israelis were vaccinated, is effective against this variant.
This variant has previously been discovered in Israel.
Bennett approved several recommendations, including “increased enforcement” of the required quarantine for those returning from abroad, and designating 250 police officers for this task.
Israelis departing abroad are now required to fill out a declaration that they are not travelling to six high-risk countries: Argentina, Russia, India, South Africa, Mexico and Brazil.
Bennett also wants to consider imposing fines on the parents of children who violate quarantine.
An additional discussion will be held in the coming days.
The Ministry of Health’s Vaccine Committee is expected to recommend that all 12 to 15-year-olds be vaccinated against the Coronavirus.
Israel made the vaccines accessible to this age group several weeks ago.
The expected recommendation was formed against the background of two outbreaks in schools in Modi’in and Binyamina and the fear of a massive entry of variants into Israel.
The majority of Israel’s adult population is vaccinated and the virus has almost completely disappeared in the country. However, the majority of children under the age of 16 are not vaccinated.
Over 5, 491,000 Israeli citizens have received the first vaccine, some 59% of the entire population, and more than 5,1497,000, about 55% have received the second shot.
The Ministry of Health updated Sunday night that it documented 46 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours.
Of the 16,957 tests done over the past day, 0.3% returned positive.
24 of the patients hospitalized with Corona are in serious condition, 17 of them are on life support. The numbers have been steadily dropping. Most Corona wards in Israeli hospitals have been closed.
6,427 Israelis have died of the virus.
