Another report by the Intelligence Information Center, released this morning (Sunday), warns: There is a high risk of infection in closed spaces. The report recommends limiting events so that they take place mainly in open areas - and increasing enforcement of mask-wearing.
The report also recommends creating a physical barrier between those staying in shared spaces, and calls for focusing public awareness on the high risk of infection in closed spaces.
The Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Health, Itamar Grotto, addressed this morning the Intelligence Agency report published yesterday - which warned of hundreds of deaths from coronavirus within a month, and which claimed that additional restrictions on the public should be considered.
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""There is no reason to go back, we can open the economy," Grotto said in an interview with Aryeh Golan on the B network. "We must get used to living in the shadow of the coronavirus and at the same time fight as we know how: epidemiological investigations, case detection, masks.".
He added: "The semantics are less important, second wave or not, we look at it and see an increase in the scope of the disease in recent days. We are now around 300 new cases a day. It doesn't matter whether we call it a wave or not. We need to prepare for the increase and curb it.".
He said, "We need to remember that we are talking about a situation in which we are no longer in the world we were in at the beginning of the event. There is the purple note that allows the event to be held within the framework of the rules. We need to adhere to them.".
The chairman of the Association of Public Health Physicians, Professor Hagai Levin, commented on the report of the Military Intelligence Information Center on Channel B - and criticized it: "I hope there will be no eclipse of the stars here. The report is not signed by anyone. If you look at the data itself, the report is updated with mortality data from a month ago, I don't understand how it is possible to issue a report without current data and the data is simply wrong. There is no systematic mathematical epidemiological basis for this claim. I call on the Director General of the Ministry of Health to professionally subordinate the knowledge center to the National Center for Disease Control so that epidemiological professionals can go over the things.
""We need to focus on a specific area, identify hotspots of disease and treat them. Strengthen the epidemiological investigations in the field that are being conducted by the health bureaus. They must be reinforced with professionals from the field of epidemiology. The teams there are doing an excellent job but are collapsing under the load," Levin added. "We are strengthening the health system, the minister and the CEO, who will stand their ground and ensure that the policy is professional and based on evidence and not fear.".
The head of the Medical Department at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Sigal Lieberant Taub, ordered hospital administrators this morning to reopen the coronavirus wards.
The letter she sent to the managers stated that in light of the renewed increase in coronavirus morbidity in recent weeks, an increase in the number of seriously ill patients and the number of staff members in isolation, preparations must be made to open one dedicated coronavirus hospitalization department in a hospital based on the number of patients and hospitalized in the area, refresh the instructions for teams regarding protection, working in capsules, and separating respiratory and general triage, as well as to convey a preparedness status for an extreme scenario that was sent to each hospital in terms of construction, infrastructure, and personnel.
