“We trust the Israelis to protect themselves and heed the recommendations”
Is Israel at the start of a fifth wave of Covid-19? As the country records a significant increase in contaminationProfessor Salman Zarka, national coordinator of the fight against the coronavirus, answered questions from Jean-Charles Banoun in Le Prime this Thursday.
“There are indeed more contaminations recorded in recent days, but we do not yet know if these are the beginnings of a new wave”, declared Salman Zarka to i24NEWS, assuring however that there was no “no need to panic”.
Asked about the origin of this resurgence of infections, the expert first pointed out that the coronavirus had never disappeared. “There has never been zero morbidity. The Israelis have certainly put the virus behind them by resuming a normal life, but the virus has not left them,” he said.
Regarding the cause of this epidemic rebound, Salman Zarka indicated that it was probably due to the spread in Israel of a sub-variant of the Omicron variant named Ba.5.
As for the possible return to the compulsory wearing of the mask, the professor explained that it was recommended for everyone in enclosed spaces – particularly for fragile people – but that it was not, for the time, mandatory.
As with the previous wave, the government is counting on everyone’s responsibility.
“We trust the Israelis to protect themselves and take the recommendations into account, without them becoming regulations,” said Salman Zarka, reiterating that we had to “find ways to live with the virus”.
The professor also reiterated his opposition to confinement. “We came out of the previous wave without confinement, and this is a measure that we are not in favor of. We must be careful and take certain precautions such as wearing a mask and vaccination, especially for the most fragile, but we must continue to live normally,” he said.
Speaking about the possibility of a new vaccination campaign, the Israeli expert said the issue was not on the agenda, although he acknowledged that the decline in immunity people vaccinated during the Omicron wave – combined with the appearance of the new sub-variant – was undoubtedly responsible for the increase in cases.
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