Sharp jump in severe cases • Record number of confirmed cases: about 29,000 over the weekend

January 8, 2022   

A surge in seriously ill patients: Health Ministry data released this evening (Saturday night) shows that 18,780 Israelis have been diagnosed with the coronavirus in the past 24 hours in Israel. This is the highest number of confirmed cases in a single day since the outbreak of the pandemic. Has it been three months since your second vaccination? This is how you will protect yourself from the virus Did you divide? For thousands of years we dreamed of Jerusalem, so now we want to dirty it? On Saturday: The mother rested, the child pulled the trigger – and was hospitalized in serious condition In total, about 200,000 people were tested yesterday and the positive rate was about 9.5%. Today, by 5:00 PM, another 10,109 positives were diagnosed. So, close to 29,000 were diagnosed with coronavirus over the weekend. The infection rate remains stable and high, at 1.95 compared to 1.96 yesterday. 448 coronavirus patients are hospitalized in hospitals across the country. The number of coronavirus patients in serious condition now stands at 172. The number of patients in critical condition increased from 56 to 63, of whom 49 are on ventilators and 15 are connected to ACME. For comparison, last Saturday there were 103 seriously ill patients. This is a sharp jump of about 67%. The rate of positive tests on Friday was 9.48%, and on Saturday it was already 11.01%.

In about two weeks: 200,000 verified per day

According to a report on Channel 12, the Ministry of Health estimates that in the coming weeks we will see millions of Israelis infected with the coronavirus. According to estimates, one in three Israelis will be confirmed to have the virus, and that as early as next week we will reach the number of approximately 50,000 confirmed cases per day, meaning 300-500,000 confirmed cases next week. The numbers are expected to peak in about two weeks with 200,000 confirmed cases per day, and the health system estimates that a total of 2-3 million Israelis will be infected with the coronavirus in the coming weeks. Although the government is not declaring it out loud, Israel is actually moving towards a model of mass infection, and this risk is actually being tried to 'hedge' with all possible tools: administering the fourth dose of the vaccine, the new drug that helps severely ill coronavirus patients - and also the fact that the Omicron strain is less violent and causes less severe severe illness compared to previous waves of the coronavirus. This is why the real measure of the severity of the disease and its spread in Israel in the coming weeks will be the number of seriously ill patients. The question being asked in this context is when will decision-makers raise a red flag and say that the danger is too great. It is estimated that there will be between 1,500 and 2,000 seriously ill patients in Israel. Against the backdrop of the significant increase in the daily confirmed cases, the head of Public Health Services at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Sharon Al-Rai-Price, addressed the widespread spread of the variant in an interview with Ulpan Shishi last night. According to her, "This variant is less infecting the lungs, we currently have the same number of ventilators and patients on ACME. We all hope that this is the end, but this pandemic has surprised us time and time again." According to her, "121% of those confirmed today are recovering, which is something we have not encountered before. We have a very large wave to deal with." Dr. Al-Rai-Price contradicted statements that Israel has moved to a policy of mass infection: "If we were to act like this, we would stop all testing, and that is absolutely not the case – we are only increasing the number of tests." However, she clarified: "We need to adapt what we are doing to the reality of a very large wave of infection.".

The text messages sent from the Ministry of Health are updated.

In light of the change in testing policy, in the event of exposure to a confirmed case/appearance of symptoms, the text messages sent by the Ministry of Health are being updated: In the coming days, outdated text messages regarding the classification of tests and isolation are still expected to be sent. In light of this, the Ministry of Health clarifies: Anyone who has been exposed to a confirmed patient and is not over the age of 60 or is not included in the at-risk populations: • If he is recovering/vaccinated and has received a notification of close contact, he is required to perform a home antigen/supervised antigen test without isolation. In the event of a positive result in a home antigen test, a supervised antigen test must be performed and enter isolation if the result is positive. Without performing a supervised antigen test, it will not be possible to recognize recovery. • If he is not recovering/not vaccinated and has received a notification of close contact, he is required to perform a supervised antigen test and enter isolation.