The coronavirus commissioner of Israel stated that the country is currently in a state of emergency. On Tuesday, this alarming news came from Prof. Nachman Ash, as the number of daily cases reported topped 1,200.
Ash stated that people have started to believe that the virus has disappeared whereas, the morbidity rate is steadily increasing. According to him, the coronavirus cabinet and the relevant government authorities will have a meeting to decide what immediate steps should be taken to curb the rise in cases.
On Tuesday, the Health Ministry reported that 1,244 people had contracted the virus in the day before, along with an additional 789. The latter were tested between midnight and the press release. The death toll stood at 2,877, while nearly 264 people were reported to be in critical condition.
Sharon Alroy-Preis, the head of the Public Health Services, also spoke at the briefing on Tuesday. She revealed that the country had passed the 1,200 cases mark for the first time in more than a month. She went on to add that when the firsts stage of the coronavirus exit strategy was implemented by the government, Israel had less than 600 verified cases in a day.
The head also informed that the reproduction rate is currently at 1.17 and is continuously increasing at a steady rate. She stated that the government and the cabinet has no idea what will happen to the number of cases reported every day and the reproduction rate, now that more businesses and grades have been reopened. However, she reassured me that the Public Health Services is keeping a close eye on the reproduction rate.
Alroy-Preis delved further into details of the state of the country and reported that the trend of the infection is worsening in almost 90 localities. She said that though everyone enjoys a sense of achievement when they look at the green part of the map, the red and orange are slowly becoming a cause for alarm. She urged people to not deceive themselves into thinking that the entire State of Israel has turned green.
As of now, there are 27 orange and 16 red cities in the country. Morbidity rates have significantly increased and a state of emergency has been declared on account of the third wave of the coronavirus. The number of new cases on a daily basis is still lower than it was in August but, the reproduction rate is the same and increasing.
The head of Public Health Services said that it is possible that the number of dead and serious patients may quickly rise in the country. She stressed on the fact that Israel is in a state of infection and cannot allow more businesses to operate.
In the coming days, the Health Ministry is supposed to present different solutions to the coronavirus cabinet, to address the rising spread of the infection. The citizens and government alike do not want the coronavirus to burn through the country, as Hanukkah and Christmas are fast approaching.