They will celebrate in 'Tishim' I Prof. Hezi Levy: "There will certainly not be a proactive closure during the Hanukkah holiday"'

November 25, 2020   

The Director General of the Ministry of Health, Prof. Hezi Levy, held a press conference this evening (Wednesday) in which he updated on the fight against the coronavirus and efforts to vaccinate the population. Prof. Levy referred to the possibility that a lockdown will be imposed for the Hanukkah holiday in about two weeks, as was imposed for the Tishrei and Passover holidays - and stated: "There will certainly not be a proactive lockdown during Hanukkah. We will monitor the morbidity and the consequences of any lifting of restrictions. Where it exceeds expectations and puts us in a race, we will have to consider lifting the easing." The Director General noted that "we continue to map the localities by color. As of today, there are 15 red authorities and more orange authorities. This serves the restrictions according to the traffic light method that will begin next week." He referred to the infection rate and noted that from his perspective it is still too high. "The infection rate is currently at 1.06, which is higher than the trend we set in the outline for exiting the lockdown." The Director General of the Ministry of Health addressed the issue of vaccinations - and said. "The vaccines will arrive in the first and second quarters of 2021. Perhaps the first swallow will arrive at the end of December. As for the first group to receive the vaccine, we are currently dealing with it from an ethical, legal and medical perspective. Of course, this will be affected by the rate at which the vaccines arrive and the vaccines that have been tested." However, he mentioned medical professionals as candidates to receive the vaccine first, along with patients at risk. Prof. Levy emphasized that it is not possible to forcibly vaccinate and that the government's efforts will focus on information: "We will not force people to get vaccinated against Corona, the law in Israel does not allow this. We will come, explain and speak to the hearts of the people to prevent morbidity and infection and return the wheels of the economy to solid activity." On the voices warning against the vaccine - he said: "The vaccine that arrives will be a safe vaccine, I hope. We will bring to the country vaccines that have all undergone strict approvals and side effect testing. I estimate that there will not be many serious side effects, but we will check and ensure that vaccines arrive that pass all approvals." Prof. Levy referred to the increase in morbidity in Arab society and in the Palestinian Authority territories and explained that there is currently conduct that does not follow the guidelines - and that his office is trying to contact the leaders of the Arab public in order to prevent the further outbreak of morbidity. "There is an increase in morbidity in Arab society. This stems from events, gatherings, weddings and routines that are not always according to regulations. We are working with the Arab desk, the authorities and opinion leaders to explain and tell the population that its behavior needs to change in order to reduce morbidity.".