Israel “working” on getting third dose of vaccine as COVID cases rise, says Bennett – Reuters

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel was “very close” to getting more coronavirus vaccines to provide Israelis with a third dose on Tuesday.

“We’re working on it, trust me,” Bennett said.

“There are things we have to do to get [the doses]. The less we talk about it, the more likely it is to happen. I’m on it. ”

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Israel reported a record four months of new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, with the number of patients in serious condition continuing to rise sharply.

The Israeli Ministry of Health on Monday recorded 2,112 new cases of COVID-19 with 138 people in serious condition, including 26 on ventilators and 34 in critical condition. Additionally, there are 238 coronavirus patients in Israeli hospitals.

Over the past week, the number of Israeli coronavirus patients in serious condition more than doubled, data showed Tuesday.

As more people were diagnosed with COVID-19 on Monday – 2,112 compared to 1,398 on Sunday – 2.3% of tests performed came back positive, a sharp increase from 2.08 the day before.

Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said on Monday that government policy was to avoid lockdowns and instead of focusing on making sure people wear masks, self-quarantine if necessary and get vaccinated.

Professor Ran Balicer, who heads a panel of experts advising the health ministry, told Haaretz that “the current restrictions have proven in recent weeks that they are not stopping the spread of the disease in Israel.”

“The government needs to strategically decide whether a continued hike like this is a policy. And if so, it needs to be taken into account that if they regret it later, the variety of tools available to stop the spread will be more limited – and will only include means that cause extreme damage to the economy and to society, ”he added.

Professor Balicer also noted that patients with “severe” coronaviruses are generally less sick now than during previous COVID outbreaks in Israel.

Israel saw a twenty-day spike in the number of newly vaccinated people on Monday, the majority of whom received their second vaccine. The data comes after Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett criticized unvaccinated people who chose not to vaccinate during a televised speech.

Also on Monday, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised concerns over the growing number of COVID-19 cases in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, raising its travel health advisory to “level 3 : raised “.

On Tuesday night, Israel reinstated another restriction for Ben-Gurion International Airport, according to which passengers will not be allowed to be escorted and non-travelers will not be allowed to enter the arrivals hall of the airport.

Last week, the government reinstated vaccine passports for events of more than 100 people in closed locations. When asked on Sunday whether these new requirements would be enough, Ash said he hopes this will reduce the rate of infection, but the situation should be monitored to see if further action needs to be taken.