On Wednesday, Israel registered the highest number of daily cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began.
According to the country’s health authorities, 11,978 new cases of infection were reported during the last 24 hours.
On Monday, 10,644 cases of infection were registered, writes Ha’aretz – which means an increase of 360 percent from the week before.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has warned that the daily infection rate could increase to about 50,000 due to the omicron variant, writes NTB.
Considering shutting down – again
Opens up
The country has recently changed tactics in dealing with the virus. Israel closed its borders for all foreign tourists on 28 November.
On Monday this week, however, the government stated that protected visitors who do not come from so-called high-risk countries, will still have access to the country from 9 January.
The prerequisite is that visitors take a PCR test before and after arrival, and carry out a quarantine of 24 hours.
FOURTH DOSE: A resident of a nursing home in the coastal city of Netanya was given a fourth vaccine dose against the coronavirus on Wednesday. Photo: jack Guez / AFP / NTB
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Fourth dose
On the same day, Israel, as one of the first countries in the world, began offering a fourth dose of vaccine to anyone over the age of 60, as well as health professionals.
From before, people with weakened immune systems have also been offered a fourth dose, writes NTB.
According to Ha’aretz, the director general of the Israeli Ministry of Health, Nachman Ash, he is concerned that this second booster dose will not come fast enough, because he fears the omicron variant will spread faster than the booster vaccination.
On Israel’s Channel 13, Shaar Alroy-Preis, in the Ministry of Health, stated earlier this week:
– There is no control over the omicron wave.
INFECTIONS: According to the Jerusalem Post, almost 27,000 cases of infection have been detected in Israel last week, a tripling from the week before. Stock Photo: Debbie Hill / UPI / Shutterstock / NTB
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Opens for home tests
On Wednesday, the Israeli Ministry of Health announced new changes to the test policy. The reason for the change is the sharp increase in the number of cases of infection – and the subsequent demand for testing, reports Ha’aretz.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Minister of Health Nitzan Horowitz announced that from Friday, vaccinated, healthy Israelis under the age of 60, who have been in contact with infected people, can take a home test to avoid isolation.
The aim of this is to avoid long queues at the test stations, as well as unnecessary quarantine.
He also urged the entire population to get vaccinated.
According to the new guidelines, the ministry will reserve PCR tests for people aged 60 and older, as well as high-risk groups.
These groups will not be determined solely by age and vaccination status, according to sources in the health system, but will likely include people with conditions such as diabetes, obesity and lung disease, Ha’aretz says.
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Will shorten the interval
As early as the end of December, the country decided to cut the time between the second and third doses of corona vaccine from five to three months. This was justified by the increasing incidence of the omicron variant.
The country’s health ministry also announced that this would apply regardless of which vaccine is taken. Nevertheless, it is recommended that the third dose be with the same vaccine as was first and second time vaccinated, if possible.
The effect decreases after 90 days
Gloomy divination
Health Director Nachmann Ash stated earlier this week that the omicron spread may be what will lead to herd immunity in the country.
– But we do not want to achieve herd immunity as a result of infection, we rather want it to happen as a result of enough people having been vaccinated, he says.
A leading Israeli expert believes up to four million Israelis could be infected with covid-19 in January, writes NTB.
“At the national level, mass infection is inevitable,” writes Eran Segal Twitter.
Segal is a professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science and is considered one of Israel’s foremost experts on the coronavirus. Segal’s prediction is that between two and four million Israelis – that is, 20 to 40 percent of the country’s population – will be infected in just three to four weeks.
“The current restrictions are too weak in light of such a contagious virus,” he states.
According to Jerusalem Post Nearly 27,000 cases of infection have been detected in Israel last week, a tripling from the week before.
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