Israeli police will step up monitoring and enforcement over the weekend to help slow the rise in coronavirus cases, they said. This will include additional checkpoints and the deployment of thousands of police officers across the country – both within cities and on the country’s roads. “Most of the police activity will focus on supervising and enforcing regulations with an emphasis on prohibited meetings, restrictions on movement and trade and compliance with isolation obligations,” the police said. With winter weather warnings, the additional inspection will start at 6am on Friday and is supposed to include 25 checkpoints on intercity roads between then and 11pm. At night, checkpoints will be reduced to 12. There will also be more motorcycle and pedestrian patrols, as well as cooperation from the police air unit, among other efforts. The increase in inspection would be only for Friday and Saturday and then return to the current schedule during the week. The move comes after about 9,417 people were diagnosed with coronavirus on Wednesday, and another 6,260 between midnight and press time on Thursday, according to the Healt Ministry. Of the more than 121,000 people screened, 7.9% had positive results. Wednesday was the third day in a row with more than 9,000 new cases.
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There is still an unprecedented number of people in serious condition. Of the 1,802 hospitalized people, almost all – 1,117 – are in serious condition, the Ministry of Health said, including 280 on ventilators. The number of critically ill patients represents a peak. Before Thursday, the highest number of serious cases was 1,102, reported by the Ministry of Health earlier in the week. Hospitals had to open new units and refrain from offering elective surgery to manage the case load. In addition, about 50 people died on Wednesday and another 34 people died before press time on Thursday, bringing the death toll to 3,860. More than 200 people succumbed to COVID-19 this week. The only silver lining is that the reproduction rate – the “R” or number of people infected by a patient – has decreased slightly. Israel’s vaccination campaign had no significant effect on the spread of the virus, a team of researchers at the Hebrew University who advises the coronavirus bureau said on Thursday. However, they stated that “it is possible that a trend towards stabilization of morbidity may have started” and that the country should see an improvement in new daily cases next week. According to the team’s forecasts, the country will see a significant increase in the number of patients hospitalized in the coming days and relief only at the end of the month. The death rate has increased, the researchers said, and the average time to death from hospitalization in serious condition has also decreased. Given the high rate of infection, the Ministry of Health should ask to extend the last block for at least a week, at meetings that are expected to take place on Sunday and for which the Hebrew team at U. has prepared its report. But the researchers said that no decision should be made within the next week. Instead, the team said that it is not possible to know with certainty whether there will be a need for a significant extension of the blockade or whether the regulations will need to be stricter and instead recommended that a decision be made in just one week, in January 21th. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the government and the Ministry of Health ask the question many times a day about when Israel will be able to open up even more and “we still don’t know”. “It is impossible to imagine that we are going out [the lockdown] within 10 days, ”said the head of Public Health Services, Sharon Alroy-Preis, at a briefing on Tuesday. The ministry emphasized that any exit strategy would not happen at once, but would be done in stages, starting with the opening of schools. Netanyahu has had discussions with health officials on the issue in recent days, including how and when to open the green passport, which could further open up the economy. “I had several conversations with the Minister of Health and other professionals to bring the green passport and plan to enjoy it as soon as possible, which will allow us to start bringing life back to normal,” said Netanyahu. ” Even when we do, we will have to continue wearing masks for the younger population and those who are not vaccinated. “On Thursday night, he and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein went to Ramle to celebrate the vaccination of the two million citizens of Israel, a 22-year-old kindergarten assistant, with their first dose of the vaccine. At the moment, more than 153,000 ha d has completed two doses and should be immune to the virus in one week. “Every hour or two, I get a call from country leaders around the world,” said Netanyahu, “and they just ask for help. “He said that” Israel has become the world champion in vaccines, but we also have good friends and I told them that we will help as much as we can. ” More vaccines are coming in from Pfizer, Netanyahu said, and another major shipment is expected in the country on Sunday and more every week thereafter, with the goal of vaccinating around 200,000 people a day with the first or second dose. , Israel should have vaccinated twice more than five million people. Health officials at the ministry and health funds said that by next week Israelis aged 40 or 45 should be able to make an appointment to be vaccinated. and fear of British and South African mutations, which spread the virus even faster, complicate the Ministry of Health’s calculations of when to leave. Alroy-Preis said earlier this week that the ministry would analyze not just the total number of new daily cases , but if there is a decline in severe cases, which means that as the elderly and high-risk people receive their second dose, the economy may be able to open even if the virus is spreading. However, she made it clear that the reproduction rate would need to be one or less. The Sheba Medical Center Infectious Disease Research Laboratory reported that it identified four additional cases in the South African variant. So far, eight cases have been discovered in the country. In addition, the Ministry of Health is now promoting the recommendation that Israelis returning from Brazil isolate themselves in coronavirus hotels after discovering what is considered a new mutation in the Brazilian coronavirus. recommendation is subject to cabinet approval. “We must act to prevent the entry and spread of variants in Israel,” said the Ministry of Health. The recommendation came after the variant was detected in Japan among travelers from Brazil. the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine appears to be effective against this variant, as it is against British and South African mutations.