Faced with alarming daily numbers of new confirmed cases in a second wave of the coronavirus, the Health Ministry decided on Tuesday to ask the cabinet to issue orders to instate strict closures and travel limitations for dozens of cities and communities that are defined as "red" due to widespread community infection.
These communities include Ashdod, which has seen its number of cases jump from 134 to 417 in a one-week period; Nahariya, where the number of cases has jumped from nine to 41 in a week; Beit Shean, which has seen an increase from eight cases to 39 in one week; Kafr Qassem, which has seen a huge 14.75% increase in cases in one week, from four to 58; and Bat Yam, Ramle, Lod, Jaljulia, and Dimona.
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The communities in question have seen the number of corona cases within their borders rise sharply and quickly, with dozens or even hundreds of new cases within a few days.
In addition, Israel Hayom has learned that the authorities are considering a reinstatement of neighborhood closures and/or travel restrictions for certain areas of Jerusalem and Bnei Brak, after dozens of new cases emerged among their residents.
New Health Ministry Director Professor Hezi Levi told Israel Hayom on Tuesday that "the Health Ministry is trying to avoid going back to a full shutdown, and make do with limited actions in areas with an unusual spread in coronavirus."
A senior Health Ministry official said, "If restrictions are not instated for 'red' communities … we might find ourselves in a very bad situation in which a decision will be made to restore a shutdown on the entire country, and possibly for a long time, with all the economic and social ramifications those steps would entail."
The Health Ministry's request for localized closures and travel restrictions are based, among other considerations, on a report by the Corona National Information and Knowledge Center published on Tuesday, which included the recommendation: "If steps are not taken to slow the spread of infection … within two weeks the number of new cases per day could near 1,000 and the number of new [active] cases per day would rise to dozens, and the death rate will follow. At the same time, the number of hospitalized patients and patients in serious condition will increase, as will the number spending weeks in recovery."
Meanwhile, Tuesday saw a record high in the number of new confirmed coronavirus cases in Israel, the Corona National Information and Knowledge Center reported Wednesday.
The total number of new cases identified as of midnight between Tuesday and Wednesday stood at 773. A total of 18,824 corona tests were processed on Tuesday, the center reported.
A total of four percent of the tests were positive, on the high end for a 10-day period that saw daily positive percentages of between 2.5% and 4%.
June 2020 saw a total of 101 coronavirus patients listed in serious condition, compared to 38 in May.
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