• Tue. Mar 19th, 2024

Number of Serious Patients in Israel Increases Again

Aug 30, 2021

In recent news, the number of serious patients of the novel coronavirus in the State of Israel has increased once again. Meanwhile, independent hospitals in the Jewish state continued to only cater to emergency patients. They were operating in ‘Shabbat’ mode, citing the lack of funding as the reason. 

Ever since last week, the number of people deemed to be in a serious condition due to the deadly disease fluctuated somewhere between 680 and 700. Early in the morning on Sunday, the country recorded 726 such patients. This figure is the highest to be reported since the month of March. 

On the other hand, the number of tests carried out on Saturday was lower than those conducted on weekdays. Specifically, nearly 100,000 tests were administered on Saturday, as compared to the 150,000 normally. In addition, the rate of people receiving a positive diagnosis was over 7%, which also marked a record of the last six months. 

An update on Sunday by the Health Ministry revealed that around 7,071 cases had been registered in the country on Saturday. As of now, there are more than 80,000 active patients in the country, which is a figure not too far from the peak of the previous wave. Back then, Israel had recorded as many as 88,000 patients of the coronavirus, actively seeking treatment. 

Schools in the country are all set to open in three days. However, 34,000 school-going children, as well as 90,000 others, are currently in isolation, soon after they were exposed to a patient who tested positive for the deadly disease. 

Meanwhile, the reproduction rate, R, has been readily declining, going as low as 1.11. This is a measure of how many people are going to be infected on average by someone with a positive diagnosis. If this number is more than 1, it is an indicator of the fact that the virus is still spreading, but at a low pace, especially when compared to the last couple of weeks. 

As of now, the health experts in the country are hopeful that the outbreak will soon decline, especially due to the vaccination campaign being run by the government.

In the previous week alone, the relevant authorities in the country administered more than 100,000 shots in a day during weekdays. Most of these were booster shots but also include first and second jabs. 

Up until now, around 5.95 million citizens of Israel have been given at least the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. In addition, 5.46 million people have received the second shot, and 1.96 have been given the third shot. By the end of Sunday, the country is expected to have successfully administered the booster shot to two million individuals. 

Moreover, hundreds of healthcare workers got together on Sunday and protested in front of the Health Ministry for the lack of funding. Seven public hospitals, which also include the Hadassah-University Medical Center, as well as the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, have been functioning in emergency mode since Wednesday. 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *