In recent news, there has been an alarming increase in the number of serious cases of coronavirus in the country of Israel. Covid-19, the disease attributable to the novel coronavirus, has shown a record number of serious cases for the first time in around a month and a half. This data was collected and reported on Sunday by the Coronavirus National Information and Knowledge Center in the country.
A total of 304 serious cases had been reported and recorded on Thursday. However, the number of patients rose to 313 on Saturday and Sunday. The number of people who have been placed on ventilators also increased significantly overnight. 121 people had been reported on Saturday but, Sunday recorded a total of 131 people.
The death toll also saw an increasing trend. By now, 2,757 patients have lost their lives to this deadly virus. According to the data provided by the Coronavirus National Information and Knowledge Center, the number of citizens hospitalized has also shown an alarming rise.
This increase in the number of people infected and hospitalized is due to the fact that the toll of daily infections has been constantly high over the past few days. On Saturday, Israel recorded a total of 415 new cases. If this was not terrifying enough, it was reported that 2.8% of all the tests conducted turned out to be positive. This news update was provided by the Health Ministry on Sunday morning.
The knowledge center, in light of these emerging critical cases, has warned the citizens and the authorities that there is worse to come. It stated that if the government and coronavirus cabinet continue to relax restrictions without proper enforcement of protective measures, the rate of infection will accelerate greatly.
Moreover, the center went on to say that though the announcement of effective vaccines is a source of hope for the country, the coronavirus guidelines should strictly be followed. They also warned that no amount of vaccinations will have a major impact on the outbreak of the virus in the country overwinters. Thus, it is up to the citizens of Israel and the authorities in charge, to be cautious.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry published a report regarding the current infection and transmission rate. On Sunday morning, the reproduction rate (R) stood at a number of 1.06.
The R records the number of people that will be infected on average, by someone who has contracted the novel coronavirus. As per health experts’ data, if this number falls below one, the infected person will pass on the virus to less than one person. This means that the outbreak is decreasing.
On the other hand, if the R lies above one, then it becomes worrisome. It indicates that one infected person will cause more than one person to contract the virus. Thus, this is a surefire sign to tell that the outbreak is growing.
The warnings given by the Coronavirus National Information and Knowledge Center come at a time when the coronavirus cabinet is considering allowing more students to return to school.