Since Monday, 337 new corona cases have been confirmed in Israel, the highest number since April, a new report published Tuesday by the Corona National Information and Knowledge Center reveals.
Bat Yam and Tiberias, where 85 and 34 new cases were reported, respectively, have been added to the map of the largest concentrations of new cases.
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Of the 337 new cases, 282 live in places that are not considered infection hotspots.
The report places special emphasis on the infection rate in Tiberias, where there are currently 58 active cases, or 13 cases per 10,000 residents. Most of the cases there are relatively young people in the 20-49 age range, and most of the new cases in the city are concentrated in two Haredi neighborhoods. According to the report, 52% of the cases in those neighborhoods were contracted in Haredi kollels, and the remaining 48% were infected by family members at home.
The authors of the report noted that "the first infection might have taken place around the Shavuot holiday, and arrived from Netanya."
The Corona National Information and Knowledge Center also reported that since the beginning of June, 117 new corona cases have been identified in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, and lists the number of active cases in the city at 137.
"The number of cases in the city in the past few weeks is very similar to the infection rate in March and April. [Bat Yam] is a very unusual case compared to the rest of the cities in Israel," the report states.
In Bat Yam, 14% of the cases are people age 70 or older, a cause of some concern since Bat Yam is home to a large elderly population. The new cases have been reported throughout the city, and an epidemiological investigation indicates that some of the new cases were contracted in shopping centers, including supermarkets.
The report recommends outreach explaining the need to comply with corona regulations and increased municipal enforcement of these regulations, as well as limits to the number of people allowed in shopping centers and businesses.
In a related development, the National Security Council and the Health Ministry, the Corona National Information and Knowledge Center has prepared an overview about the possible use of technology to locate contact between corona carriers and the rest of the population.
A report cites two main technological possibilities: the use of an application based on Bluetooth or other technology that would allow a person to know if he or she has been around a confirmed carrier, or use of a QR code at the entrance to enclosed places. A third possible option would be the use of cellphone devices' location history, which would assist epidemiological studies but would not identify contact with confirmed carriers.
The center found that the Bluetooth or QR-based options would be better suited to enclosed places suspected to be the sites of mass infections, and also provided greater possibility to protect the privacy of users than other tracking methods.
"At this stage, most western countries are opting to protect privacy over the use of invasive government technologies," the report says.
The report's authors recommend that the government look into the use of the Health Ministry's "Magen" app, as well as making it obligatory for businesses to identify people who enter their premises by using a code or online form that would "strike a balance between invasion of a citizen's privacy and the ability to conduct effective, preventative epidemiological research."
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