Persistent morbidity rate means Israel staring at 4th lockdown, officials warn
Daily caseload tops 5,755 with 400 patients in serious condition, Health Ministry says. Housing Minister Ze’ev Elkin says that unless the infection rate is curbed, lockdown could be imminent.
Maytal Yasur Beit-Or , Assaf Golan and Mati Tuchfeld, IH
The Delta variant is racing nationwide forcing the government to impose restrictions on public life | File photo: Oren Ben Hakoon
Some 5,755 new cases of the novel coronavirus were reported in Israel over the past day, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
Israel has recorded 914,403 coronavirus cases, including 6,580 deaths, since the onset of the global pandemic in March 2020.
According to the ministry, there are currently 400 patients in serious condition with 62 on ventilators.
As the coronavirus cabinet continues to debate restrictions on public gatherings in an attempt to curb the rising morbidity, fueled by the aggressive Delta variant, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked said Tuesday that the public has to brace for dealing with epidemic-related deaths.
“We have to be able to deal with having patients who are in serious condition, as well as deaths because this is a pandemic and in a pandemic – people die. This is happening all over the world,” she should Channel 13 News.
Shaked stressed that the government “was never complacent nor was there any misunderstanding of the situation. Once we saw the smaller outbreaks … we knew very well where we were headed. We made the complex but strategic decision to live alongside the coronavirus with the knowledge that vaccines are available.”
She urged the public to get vaccinated, especially Israelis 60 and older, who are eligible for a second booster shot.
As for the possibility of imposing another lockdown – Israel’s fourth – Shaked said that the government was still weighing the issue and any decision made is taking with a two-week outlook.
“In two weeks we will assess the situation ahead of the new school year.”
Meanwhile, several ministers admitted that the government was “making delayed decisions.”
“What we’re doing now could have been done a month ago and apparently, a month from now when the situation will be unbearable, we’ll do what we should be doing now,” one minister told Israel Hayom.
He further said that “the current government has decided that the relevant gauge is not the number of patients overall but the number of seriously ill patients, in order to make sure that hospitals don’t get overrun with patients.”
As hard as it may be, he continued, “That’s the right thing to do and I think that that’s the mistake the previous government made. Still, how can you wait so long to make strategic decisions? If we do end up imposing a lockdown, it almost certainly could have been avoided.”
Another minister noted that the third vaccine campaign could have been launched earlier.
“We wouldn’t have reached such high morbidity levels had we started the vaccination campaign on time,” she claimed.
Ministers, she added, are not really involved in the decision-making process. “The [coronavirus] cabinet convenes from time to time, but important decisions should be brought before the government. There is a collective responsibility.
“Most ministers are disconnected from what is happening, but have to bear the blame for the rising morbidity.”
Housing and Construction Minister Ze’ev Elkin said Wednesday that unless the infection rate is curbed, the government should impose lockdown as early as next week.
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