Medical staff move patients to the new coronavirus ward of Shaare Zedek hospital, Jan. 7, 2021. (Flash90/Olivier Fitoussi)
There were a total of 10,022 cases Monday despite a lockdown that has gone on nearly two weeks.
By David Isaac, World Israel News
Watching the news on Israel’s coronavirus situation is like being on a see-saw. The good news on Tuesday is that the Health Minister says he plans to vaccinate 250,000 a day. The bad news – Israel’s daily corona count spiked above 10,000 on Monday, the largest single-day record.
There were a total of 10,022 cases Monday despite a lockdown that has gone on nearly two weeks. Israel’s government is deciding on Tuesday whether to extend the lockdown.
The rising numbers fly in the face of ongoing vaccination efforts and may be due to the spread of the UK strain of the virus, which is more infectious than the original. Head of Public Health Services Dr. Sharon Elrai-Price said Tuesday that one man returning from the UK infected 700 people with the new strain. The Jewish Press is calling him the “typhoid Mary” of Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he wants to close the airport entirely to travelers. It’s the third time Netanyahu has urged the closing of the skies to contend with the corona threat. He made the request in light of the new corona strains, of which there are at least three identified.
In a new ripple, the latest corona wave appears to be impacting pregnant women, 10 of whom are reported to have been hospitalized in serious condition in Israel due to the disease. One woman has lost her baby.
Deputy Director General of the Health Ministry Itamar Grotto announced on Tuesday a reversal of Health Ministry policy and directed that pregnant women should also be vaccinated. The Health Ministry had recommended against it until now as pregnant women were not part of the vaccine trials and the vaccine’s effect on pregnancy is unknown.
“We know that pregnancy is a risk for corona, because there is a very wide infection. We also see a lot of women who have been infected. We recommend that pregnant women get vaccinated,” Grotto said.
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