No Decision Made by the Coronavirus Cabinet

All members of the coronavirus cabinet had a meeting on Sunday to make a final decision on whether or not further restrictions on the public should be imposed. It was to also decide if another closure of the country should be implemented in order to cope with the increased mortality. However, the meeting only lasted for six hours and the ministers had not reached any certain decision. No future meeting was scheduled either. 

‘Give a Shoulder’ vaccine drive went into full gear just recently. On the other hand, the morbidity is rising and maintaining a weekly average of 2,500 patients of the virus each day. This number was initially supposed to trigger another lockdown but, no final decision has been made.

Several ministers at the coronavirus cabinet meeting voted for a complete lockdown, without the existence of any interim measures. However, the members of the cabinet did have several discussions on the kind of restrictions that should be implemented as per the ‘tightened restraints’ programs. 

Early on Sunday, the Health Ministry made an announcement regarding the coronavirus cases in the country. They stated that 1,866 people had tested positive on Saturday, 466 of whom were in critical condition. 

After midnight on Sunday, a total of 433 cases had been diagnosed. At the time, the number of patients on ventilators were 113. The positivity ratio had been reported as 3.1%, while the death toll came to be 3,082. 

Prof. Nachman Ash, the coronavirus commissioner, released forecasts of the number of critically ill patients in the next three months, as well as the mortality rate in the country. Both these figures were significantly high and caused concern amongst the ministers. 

According to the professor’s report, 1,340 to 1,900 people are likely to become critically ill over the specified time period. Consequently, the deaths were predicted to be between 3,085 and 3,700. 

His report also specified that if the tightened restraints were enforced for a period of five weeks, these numbers would significantly decline. The number of patients, who will be critically ill, will fall to 800 and 1,250 people are likely to die due to the virus. 

Ash also reported that if a full closure is implemented only for three weeks, the number of critically ill patients will come down to 700, with 1,100 people who will succumb to the disease. He also pointed out that at the moment, 70 to 80 critically ill patients are fighting for their lives whereas, this number was only at 20 at the beginning of the month.

Moreover, the latest categorization of areas rendered 61 as red, 83 as orange, 123 as yellow, and 1,106 as green. 

Proposed by the professor himself, a period of tightened restraints will mean that malls, marketplaces, and shops will be shut down. In addition, only 10 people at a time will be allowed to gather in closed places, and 20 in open areas. Public transport will be reduced by 50% and the education system will continue to operate only in green and yellow cities. Orange and red areas will be strictly instructed to not permit entry on any school premises.