Head of Public Health Services, Dr. Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, told Channel 12 News Thursday night that “the lockdown is not a fait accompli – we are not in August 2020, we are in August 2021.”
“There is no shortage of vaccines, there are always ongoing deliveries,” Dr. Alroy-Preis said. “There may be some temporary point where vaccines run out for a few hours or two days at most.”
“This vaccination campaign emerged within a few days and we have already vaccinated more than 260,000 people,” she noted regarding the most recent campaign to vaccinate people over 60 with a booster, third dose.
Israel’s health ministry on Friday morning reported 3,843 new Corona patients were diagnosed bringing the number of active patients in Israel to 27,525, with 253 in critical condition, out of whom 52 are on respirators. Out of 116,040 tests conducted throughout the country on Thursday, 3.79% were positive.
At the same time, the number of Israelis vaccinated with the third dose continues to rise, with 349,707 who have already been vaccinated, and 5,390,870 who have been given the second dose.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Thursday that The Ministry of Health published this morning (Friday) the latest corona data in Israel, which showed that in the last day, 3,843 new corona patients were diagnosed and now there are 27,525 active patients in the country. Of all patients, 253 are defined as in critical condition and there are 52 respirators.
The percentage of positive tests yesterday was 3.79% with 116,040 tests conducted throughout the country. At the same time, the number of vaccinated continues to rise when there are 349,707 who have already been vaccinated in the third dose of the corona vaccine, while 5,390,870 have been vaccinated in the second dose.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Thursday: “We are currently the first on the world’s front to make a third complementary vaccine available to adults, we have gathered the courage to do so and I am happy to inform you that over a quarter of a million adults have already been vaccinated with the third vaccine and they will be much better protected against the Delta variant epidemic.”
That is why the head of public health services stressed Thursday night that “closure is not a fait accompli, there are enough vaccines in Israel, we need to make sure that everyone over the age of 12 is vaccinated.”
Dr. Alroy-Preis added: “We don’t think that activation of the green tag (for vaccinated individuals), the purple tag (the protocol in enclosed areas), and the constraints on crowding will lower the infection coefficient to 0.8 (from its current 1.3 – DI), but they will buy us time and slow down the rate at which this train is speeding.”
At the same time, she emphasized that a lockdown on the Tishrei holidays is definitely an option: “We can give instructions like keeping facemasks indoors – you see how many people follow the instructions. Less than 10% of the people returning from abroad who must enter isolation actually take the prescribed test on the seventh day. This means that the insulation is not maintained all that much. Our ability not to reach the lockdown moment is in the hands of all of us.”
Asked “What is the purpose of a lockdown,” Dr. Alroy-Preis replied: “Any action following which people are kept away from one another will reduce the morbidity. The question is whether there’s adherence. We know that in the first lockdown people stayed home, But in the second and third lockdowns much less so. The lockdown is not a strategy – it’s a tactic. It’s a step you don’t take if you don’t really have to. At this point, we don’t have to.”