Bennett: "The fifth wave is coming, there is an increase in the infection rate - it is beginning""

December 19, 2021   

Coronavirus Commissioner, Prof. Salman Zarka, said today (Sunday) that the public needs to be prepared for the fact that we are facing a high wave of morbidity. In a conversation with 'Kan News', the Commissioner recommended that people with risk factors and over the age of 65 take care of themselves and avoid going to mass events. Prof. Zarka warned that Omicron is highly contagious and therefore even if the new variant is less violent - which has not yet been determined - the number of confirmed cases will increase and the hospitals will be full. The Commissioner added that the possibility of administering a fourth dose to adults and people in risk groups is being examined, and that it may be decided to begin stockpiling them as early as January. Naftali Bennett opened the government meeting today and warned that the fifth wave is approaching. "We bought the State of Israel precious time, we delayed Omicron for at least three weeks. Time is running out, and it is simply not enough," Bennett said. "The Omicron has already entered the country, meaning - there are already infections within the community, and we are already seeing it in the infection rate. It has begun." Bennett added: "This time, due to the highly contagious nature of this variant, the collective protection that the state provides is not enough. Everyone, every citizen, must take care of themselves and their family and children. Do not rely on your neighbor to vaccinate and vaccinate their child. It will not help you much, the wave is coming - and every family needs to prepare. Every person needs to make sure that they themselves are vaccinated with 3 vaccines and that their children are vaccinated." According to a report on Channel 12, at the end of his remarks, when the cameras were supposed to leave the discussion, they remained for a short time, while Bennett had already begun speaking in the closed session. Bennett asked the ministers to avoid participating in mass events, and announced that the weekly government meeting would be moved to the Foreign Ministry, as was the case in previous waves. "I have an immediate request, everyone naturally when the Delta subsided, so we relaxed discipline and that's natural, all of us," said the Prime Minister, "This is a true story, I don't need to tell you. Each in his own way, I ask each minister in his own conduct, to conduct himself strictly with the masks. Second, to avoid crowded meetings. The government meeting will no longer be here and will move to the big place." Bennett himself canceled participation in a number of mass events. Bennett's request for ministers to avoid mass gatherings came against the backdrop of the participation of alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid last night in a political conference - with hundreds of activists.