Health Ministry Allows Serological Tests to Prove COVID Recovery

On Monday, the Health Ministry in Israel announced that patients who have recovered from COVID-19 will now be able to obtain a Green Pass through a serological test that proves they have received a single vaccine dose and have coronavirus antibodies. The ministry made a statement regarding this matter and said that as per the new procedure, an anti-N serological test will have to be undertaken in accordance with the Health Ministry’s protocol and a positive result will be required. It also added that it will only be valid if a single vaccine dose is administered, regardless of whether the vaccine or the test comes first. 

As per the rules of the Green Pass, only people who have proof of vaccination are granted entry to certain events and businesses. They can also get a Green Pass if they present a negative test result, or can provide proof of recovering from COVID-19. A number of new rules had been put into effect on October 3rd and under these new rules, patients who have recovered from COVID-19 would also have to get a single dose of the coronavirus vaccine to be considered eligible for obtaining a Green Pass. These new rules have been introduced for immediate implementation.

Thanks to the new rules, people will be able to obtain a Green Pass even if they have not gotten the second or the third dose of the coronavirus vaccine, as long as their bodies still have antibodies. Likewise, a similar system has been implemented for children between the age group of 3 and 11, who cannot be administered the COVID-19 vaccine as yet. According to the statistics shared by the Health Ministry, the total number of people who have been infected by the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic in the country is around 1,327,720. 

The first dose of the Pfizer vaccine has been administered in Israel to about 6,237,223 people and a third, or booster shot, has been administered to almost half of these people i.e. 3,954,003. The latest figures show that Israel is at the end of the fourth wave of the coronavirus, as there has been a steady fall in the serious cases and infections in the last couple of weeks. There were a total of 218 serious cases of the coronavirus in Israel on Sunday, a number that had been around 750 almost a month ago. On Sunday, the positivity rate was about 0.64%, which is the lowest this rate has been since the beginning of July.

On Sunday, the total number of new cases that were diagnosed in the country was about 225. The total number of cases in Israel since the beginning of the pandemic has now reached 1,327,458. No new deaths were reported on the same day, which meant that the death toll in the country remained at 8,100. In other news, an Israeli company has introduced a new mini-PCR testing device to speed up the process and to put it in the palm of your hand. It reportedly provides results in 30 minutes.