Israel is in the “final stages” of the coronavirus pandemic, a senior health official said on Friday, after data showed the country was seeing clear results from its massive vaccination campaign.
“We are in the final phase of the coronavirus. Israel, with the scale of its vaccination campaign, is showing the world that there is an exit strategy, ”said Ronni Gamzu, who was a czar of Israel’s COVID and has since returned to his job as director of Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, to Channel 12 news.
His assessment appears to be shared by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was taped earlier this week saying in a closed-door meeting that it was “over”.
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“You all understand that everything we are talking about about the corona is just a compensation for the past. It’s over, ”Netanyahu told members of a protest group that represents independent business owners in leaked statements, recorded on Wednesday and broadcast on Channel 12 on Friday.
Trust comes with Israel having vaccinated almost a quarter of the eligible population and clear signs that vaccines are having an impact.
Educator receives COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Jerusalem on January 13, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel / Flash90)
Thursday saw 56,716 Israelis receiving their first vaccine, totaling 1,992,806, with another 64,366 receiving their second injection, reaching 169,707 – by far the highest vaccination rate in the world, according to the Our World In Data website.
Netanyahu promised last week that Israel would further increase its vaccination campaign, with the goal of administering 170,000 vaccines a day, when a new batch of hundreds of thousands of doses of Pfizer vaccine lands at Ben Gurion Airport.
By the end of March, Israel will have vaccinated 5.2 million citizens against the coronavirus, according to a plan prepared by the Ministry of Health.
Channel 12 revealed on Friday that the percentage of critically ill patients over 60 years of total confirmed cases has dropped dramatically in the past few days, from 2.5% to 1.5%.
“We got used to seeing that 2.5% of critically ill patients were over 60, which has suddenly decreased,” said Gamzu.
At least 75% of the population over 60 have already received at least one injection, which indicates that the vaccine was already working, although its impact came only after the second dose.
“This 1.5% is unprecedented, I haven’t seen it in the entire period. The vaccine has a clear effect, ”he said. “It shows the beginning of the end.”
Gamzu praised the government and Netanyahu for securing the vaccines, but said the real credit was due to the Israeli public.
“The greatest success belongs to the people of Israel, the public that has been vaccinated with great faith, saying that I believe in vaccination,” said Gamzu. “This is not something that you are seeing all over the world and needs to be said.”
The optimism comes when Israel said on Friday that all Israelis over 45 will be eligible to receive the first COVID-19 vaccine through their health care providers starting on Sunday, while Israel’s vaccination campaign continues. expand.
A chart showing the main countries in COVID-19 vaccinations administered per capita, according to Our World In Data website, January 15, 2021. (Screenshot)
Coinciding with the launch of the vaccination campaign, there was an increase in coronavirus cases, with more than 9,000 new daily infections diagnosed in the past few days.
There was also a marked increase in the number of fatalities and the number of critically ill patients due to complications of COVID-19.
Updated data published on Friday morning by the Ministry of Health indicate that 9,192 new cases were confirmed the day before – the fourth consecutive with more than 9,000 cases. However, the rate of positive tests, 7.7 percent, was about half the record set in September. The number of daily tests has grown dramatically to 123,111 on Thursday.
Friday’s initial numbers showed a similar positivity rate of 7.2% – 1,807 cases of 25,230 tests performed by 10 am
However, Gamzu said that both the overall number of new cases and the number of seriously ill people appeared to be stabilizing, and the trend was changing.
The number of total cases since the start of the pandemic, which rose from half a million on Monday, reached 533,026, including 79,084 active cases – a new historic record. Of these, 1,141 people were in serious condition, including 351 listed as critical and 291 on ventilators.
The death toll has risen to 3,892 – an increase of 49 since Thursday morning.
The police temporarily blocked Route 1 outside Jerusalem on January 15, 2021, during a third total blockade across the country, in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. (Yonatan Sindel / Flash90)
Due to the high numbers of morbidity and mortality, the government toughened last week the blockade measures that took effect a week earlier, ordering the closure of schools and companies.
Netanyahu urged Israelis to adhere to government restrictions on viruses and said that no decision has yet been taken on the extension of the third national blockade, which health officials have signaled will last beyond the original end date of 21 January.
The police have prepared to significantly expand enforcement of the blockade over the weekend by establishing checkpoints that will operate 24 hours a day.
Police said dozens of checkpoints were installed along major highways, as well as within cities and towns. The increase in inspection measures began at 6 am on Friday.