• Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

1 in 20 Israelis Infected, but Experts Still Optimistic

Jan 26, 2022

The COVID-19 cases in Israel are close to their peak and the judgement day is drawing closer. It all depends on the half million people who have tested positive for COVID-19, which means that 1 in 20 citizens are currently infected. The ability of these patients to overcome the virus will determine if Israel is able to come out of this latest wave of the virus without overwhelming the country’s hospitals. On Sunday, a total of 83,088 cases were diagnosed, which brought the total number of active infections in the country to 531,430. As for the total number of infections, it reached 2,387,131. 

Any unexpected setback that involves people bucking the patterns of the Omicron variant seen till now would put a strain on Israeli hospitals because it might lead to serious cases. However, if the patients follow the patterns of the virus, then they will be able to make a smooth recovery and even though it means a couple of hard weeks for the doctors, they will still not be overwhelmed. According to an expert, Israel has reached the peak when it comes to cases and said that there would be a significant decrease in the number of daily cases, starting from the first week of February. 

The health experts’ team has said that the current level of serious case in hospitals, which stands at 814, will increase and reach a peak between 1,000 and 1,400 cases within a week. Even this high number is considered manageable, as long as it does not exceed this range. Sheba Medical Center’s specialist for infectious diseases, Prof. Eyal Leshem is also of the same opinion. He said that the peak of the new wave seems close and the hospitals have not been overwhelmed and it is unlikely to happen. He did say that the hospital staff was stretched because many of the doctors were also infected.

However, he said that it was unlikely that the pessimistic scenarios that had been outlined would happen. Nonetheless, he added that people who are vulnerable to infection or deterioration should still remain cautious. He said that people with health issues, or the elderly need to be very careful. He went on to say that this week and the next would be a bit tough for hospitals, as they would have to open COVID departments. This is mostly because it takes time for serious patients of the coronavirus to recover. 

While this should be encouraging for policymakers, it doesn’t mean that they should relax regulations. Infection numbers was never the big concern for Israeli doctors when it comes to the Omicron variant. It was the number of people who would become ill. The circumstances of every country have been different so far and Israel could not relax because of the situation in another country, unless they were moving on the same trajectory. Now, after a close study, it is apparent that Israel is also on the same path as others like the United Kingdom and just a few weeks behind. UK’s new daily cases are already half than what they were two weeks ago. 

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