Coronavirus Commissioner Announces No Lockdown Before Israel Elections

Prof. Nachman Ash, the Coronavirus Commissioner, stated his optimism at the declining number of coronavirus patients in the country, early on Wednesday morning. The Health Ministry, on Tuesday, had reported 3,055 new cases in the State of Israel, as per the statistics revealed by the Health Ministry. 

By expressing his optimism, Ash automatically retracted a statement that he previously made, in which he had said that another lockdown in the country is likely to happen. He had said that restrictions will be imposed once again on Israel before the elections could take place. 

However, on Wednesday morning, the Coronavirus Commissioner asserted that he is quite happy with the direction that the numbers are going in. On that day, the number of patients who were reported to be in a serious condition had dropped to 653. This figure was the lowest that it had been since the month of December. As of now, around 215 patients are on ventilators. 

Another positive development was that the reproduction rate, R, which measures the ability of the infection to spread, stood at 0.95. This marked the second consecutive day that showed a decrease in this particular figure. 

Ever since the pandemic plagued the country, around 5,936 people in the State of Israel have lost the battle with the virus and succumbed to it. 

Where the vaccination campaign is concerned, more than five million citizens of the country have been given at least one shot of the Pfizer vaccine. This includes around 3.9 million Israelis, who have received both the jabs. 

Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, the head of the Public Health Services, also gave a statement at a press conference on Tuesday, which was being attended by the Knesset Law and Constitution Committee. She stressed the fact that people should not take the coronavirus lightly.

According to her, the coronavirus pandemic is not behind Israel, however, she expressed hope that the statistics will continue to be encouraging. The head of the Public Health Services went on to reaffirm that the citizens will soon be able to have a quasi-normal life if these numbers continue to decline. 

She further explained that the Health Ministry is currently working on a system to make sure that schools can remain open. As of now, the number of students who are testing positive for the coronavirus or entering isolation due to exposure is rapidly increasing in the country. 

On Wednesday, the Health Ministry additionally published an update, which contained information about only those localities permitted to keep their schools open on Sunday. It also named schools that will have to return to remote learning, as per the traffic light program. 

The former includes Dimona, as well as certain neighborhoods in the city of Jerusalem. On the other hand, the latter includes a handful of neighborhoods in Beersheba and Bnei Brak. 

In other news, a new study has been conducted by the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, along with the Tel Aviv University, which indicates that breastfeeding mothers, who were given the coronavirus vaccine, transferred antibodies into their milk.