COVID: More than 10,000 new virus cases, says health ministry

The number of new coronavirus cases is on the rise, as the virus was detected in 10,084 out of more than 165,000 people who were tested, a 6.6% positivity rate, the health ministry reported on Sunday.

Officials announced they would set up additional testing stations to meet increased demand before and after Yom Kippur

On Friday, 9,794 new virus carriers were identified and on Thursday 7,921 tested positive, the ministry said. Last week’s results were influenced by Rosh Hashanah.

The fertility rate, or R, which measures how many people each virus carrier infects, also increased. When R is below 1, the disease is considered to be in remission. After falling to 0.8, the R climbed to 0.96 on Sunday. The figures released every day reflect the situation almost 10 days ago, including on September 1, when schools reopened.

The number of patients in critical condition remained stable at 697. The figure has fluctuated between 660 and 700 since the beginning of the month. Till Sunday, about 154 of these patients were ventilated. With nearly 260 people dying of the virus in September, the death toll has risen to 7,338.

“Coronavirus has become a phenomenon without vaccination,” Health Minister Nitzen Horowitz (Meretz) told Sunday’s cabinet meeting. “Avoiding vaccination eventually leads to death.”

A 21-year-old man died of COVID-19 on Saturday night after being brought to Holson’s Wolfson Medical Center in critical condition, the hospital said. It is unknown whether the person was suffering from underlying medical conditions.

“Right now, as we speak, two 40-year-olds are fighting for their lives,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said at the start of a cabinet meeting on Sunday. “It’s just unnecessary. It’s unnecessary deaths and unnecessary diseases. It’s heartbreaking, and it doesn’t have to be this way.”

More than 2.8 million Israelis have received three shots of the COVID-19 vaccine, 5.5 million have received two doses, and more than six million people have received one shot.

Cabinet members said that the emphasis on vaccination will have to continue.

“All government employees should be vaccinated,” said Nachman Shai, Minister for Overseas Affairs.

Social Equality and Pensioners Minister Meerv Cohen (Yesh Atid) and other ministers talk about “liberal” policies at Ben-Gurion Airport, following more than 1,500 Breslov Hasidim who traveled to Uman, Ukraine, to visit Rosh Hashanah. returned to Israel and tested positive for coronavirus.

Bennett acknowledged that the situation would need to be corrected.

“Minister Cohen is right: the next edition will come from the airport”, he said. “I call it ‘omega’.”

Bennett said the health ministry is working on a mechanism for genetic sequencing for everyone entering Israel.

More than 155,000 teachers and students have entered isolation since the start of the school year, including some 43,000 active cases, more than half the cases in the country.

According to Education Minister Yifat Shasha-bitan, more than 90% of the students and staff who have entered the isolation have tested negative for the virus.

The country is now piloting a Green Class program among the Arab community, with the goal of extending it to the rest of society next month.

Under the green class framework, children whose classmates are screen positive will not need to be quarantined, but will be tested every day for a week. The framework is already being tested in several hardi (ultra-orthodox) schools.

“There is a strong desire to keep entire classes out of isolation,” Bennett said.

Also on Sunday, Coronavirus Commissioner Prof. Salman Zarka told the Knesset that about 30 additional coronavirus testing complexes will be added to the existing complex in the coming weeks, to address the expected influx of requests from people to get tested for the virus before and after Yom. Kippur.

Bennett told the cabinet meeting that the number of testing premises had already been increased from 115 to 160.

In recent days, some testing complexes have had long waiting lines of up to three or four hours, which Zarka said was partly due to the start of the school year and partly due to high holy days. In the Constitution, Law and Justice committee meeting, he said that some people did PCR tests instead of rapid antigen tests, which would have been sufficient.

Jarka said that for Yom Kippur, antigen tests will be valid for up to 36 hours, until the end of the fast, and anywhere a Green Pass is required, including in synagogues, the test will be valid.

“We didn’t expect people to do another antigen test to break the fast,” he said.

It’s less expensive for people to do PCR tests, and that’s why people are taking them instead of antigen tests, Zarka said. He said a public relations campaign was needed to explain that antigen tests should be done for the Green Pass program.

“There is also confusion about the need for PCR testing for children who want to go to hotels,” said Zarka, adding that the ministry will decide whether an antigen test may be sufficient for a hotel visit instead of a PCR test. .

“Currently, there are plans to deploy test complexes up to Sukkot in terms of complex and operating hours,” he said, meaning that an additional 30 complexes and subsequent hours will be implemented through the holiday, which is 28 in Israel. ends in September.

“There was an unusual load … but we can provide an answer,” Jarka said. “We are increasing the workforce, providing targeted information on antigen testing, and in the coming days, we are preparing more [help] From Home Front Command and Health Fund. “

Overcrowding of coronavirus testing centers was discussed in the state controller’s report last month. It recommended that the Ministry of Health and the Home Front Command analyze the waiting times and come to a conclusion, something that seems to have not been done yet.

However, Zarka insisted that the premises were not packed at all places and some were with normal lines and waiting.

At the cabinet meeting, Cohen said he also spent Rosh Hashanah in long lines with his children.

“We need to have an answer for this,” she said. “These are important and have proven themselves, but at the operational level, they need to be resolved.”