For the first time in two months: 1,004 patients, the infection rate jumps

December 20, 2021   

The Ministry of Health published the updated morbidity data this morning (Monday), which shows that for the first time in two months, the number of confirmed patients found per day has crossed the 1,000 mark - and as of yesterday stands at 1,004, after 93,872 tests were performed. This is the highest figure since October 20. In addition, the infection coefficient, R, continues to rise and reached 1.22 after yesterday standing at 1.14. The number of active patients stands at 7,231 Israelis, of whom 81 are in serious condition and 42 are on ventilators. Approximately 75% of the seriously ill patients are not vaccinated at all. The number of deaths from the virus now stands at 8,232, while according to these data as of Saturday, not a single person in Israel has died.

 In Israel, there are now 175 confirmed cases of the new strain, 122 of whom were vaccinated with a third dose.

Meanwhile, the head of the "Protector of Fathers and Mothers," Professor Nimrod Maimon, called for consideration of administering a fourth vaccine to the elderly in the immediate term. Professor Maimon noted that an increase in morbidity is expected in nursing homes and geriatric institutions in the coming weeks.

He added that he would recommend testing nursing home workers twice a week with rapid tests, in addition to the weekly PCR tests.

""Gaining incredible momentum""

Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz warned this morning, in a joint discussion of the Knesset's Health and Constitutional Affairs committees that dealt with the country's preparation for the spread of the variant: "This variant is gaining incredible momentum and is reaching a huge spread within a few days that we have not seen in previous variants. "We are seeing an insufficient increase in vaccinations. They ask me, 'Is the public to blame?' The public is not to blame, but one thing must be said here: the State of Israel makes vaccines available to everyone for free. Ultimately, the responsibility to vaccinate children lies first and foremost with the parents. If a parent chooses not to vaccinate their children - the responsibility lies with them. "If you want to protect your child from illness - you need to protect yourself. If you don't want severe illness, if you don't want Long Covid - you need to get vaccinated. The state cannot replace a parent's responsibility towards their children." Head of Public Health Services at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Sharon Alrai-Price, said in the discussion: "There is no doubt that the vaccinated have a lower chance of getting infected, even against Omicron, it is less strong and their chance of getting infected, from what we have seen so far in all the variants, is lower. We know this about all the variants that have existed so far, there is no reason that this will be reversed with Omicron. "From the data that we see all over the world, the antibodies of recovered people are not good enough to protect against this variant and it is very worthwhile to get vaccinated. Vaccines do not have long-term side effects after years, that does not exist. There is no biological logic to say that here in particular there will be long-term effects. We know from seven million children who were vaccinated in the US and from 100,000 children in Israel that no significant side effects were reported.".