Another 803 confirmed coronavirus cases were identified in the 24 hours between Saturday and Sunday, the Health Ministry reported Sunday. In the same period, 16,342 tests were conducted. Some 11,189 Israelis are "active" or symptomatic corona patients, the ministry said.
According to ministry data, the first five days of July saw 48 new patients listed in serious condition. A total of 86 seriously ill corona patients are hospitalized in serious condition at Israel's various hospitals, and 29 of them are on ventilators. Since the first outbreak, 330 Israelis have died of the virus.
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Among the seriously ill, 22.5% are ages 80-89; 25% are ages 70-79; 15% are aged 60-69; and 17.5% are ages 50-59. Another 12.5% are ages 40-49, and 7.5% are ages 90-99.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday that the government would be forced to take additional steps to curtail the outbreak.
"We're in an emergency situation. This outbreak will see the number of patients in serious condition double. If we don't stop the spread if the virus, we won't have either good health or a [good] economy," Netanyahu said.
After the meeting, the ministers were slated to stay in order to approve additional restrictions.
Meanwhile, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee has been suspended until next Monday, July 13, because committee chairman Zvi Hauser has been quarantined after an intern in the committee's legal department tested positive for coronavirus.
In a related development, commander of the Border Police, Maj. Gen. Kobi Shabtai, has tested positive for coronavirus. Last week, Shabtai attended a memorial ceremony to honor the memories of the fallen from Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014, where he was seated near President Reuven Rivlin, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi.
According to epidemiological research, Rivlin, Gantz, and Kochavi do not have to enter quarantine. However, two other high-ranking police officials, Maj. Gen. Amnon Alkalai and Maj. Gen. Avshalom Peled, have been ordered to quarantine themselves.
On the regional level, Jerusalem – Israel's largest and poorest municipality – has seen another spike in positive corona tests. As of Friday, another 487 new cases had been identified in Jerusalem, and the city had 991 symptomatic corona patients, or 10 symptomatic patients per 10,000 residents in a city of just under a million residents, according to a report from the Corona National Information and Knowledge Center.
The infection rate in the capital's Haredi neighborhoods stands at 17%, and the attack rate stands at 4, compared to 1.5 in other areas of Jerusalem, the center reported.
According to the report, the "vast majority" of new corona cases in Jerusalem were identified in people under age 60.
Despite the numbers, some Haredi residents of Jerusalem feel that they are being unfairly stigmatized.
The southern city of Ashdod is also fighting to curb the corona infection rate. The Ashdod Municipality is working with the IDF Home Front Command to evacuate some of the confirmed corona patients from neighborhoods under localized closures. A total of 31 confirmed cases were evacuated to dedicated treatment facilities between Thursday and Friday, and another 80 agreed to be moved on Sunday.
According to the corona center's report, the city has seen a small decline in its infection rate, with 66 new confirmed cases on Friday. Some city rabbis announced that they would not permit corona testing after Thursday afternoon in order to avoid desecrating the Sabbath, while others are fully cooperating with city authorities and urging their congregants to be tested to avoid a more stringent closure.
In Bnei Brak, the mayor is working with leading rabbis to emphasize the need for testing and compliance with regulations after the city made its way back onto the list of corona hotspots.
On Friday, Rabbi Gershon Edelstein met with Mayor Avraham Rubenstein and Maj. Gen. (res.) Roni Numa, who handled the first outbreak in the city. Edelstein said, "We must not dismiss instructions from doctors, but observe all the regulations carefully."
Rabbi Yosef Erblich said, "There is a large, worrying rise in infection among our [Haredi] public, and that's because of complacence. It's still not clear what is happening with cases of borderline positives. A person who doesn't get tested despite feeling symptoms is considered a murderer."
In secular Tel Aviv, 11 residents of the Palace retirement home near Sourasky Medical Center have tested positive for coronavirus. All 11 were asymptomatic.
According to the Health Ministry, the outbreak began when one patient contracted the virus from his caregiver. As of Sunday, all the patients were feeling well and were in isolation and being treated by staff wearing protective gear. The facility has been thoroughly sanitized.
The second wave is also hitting the Palestinian Authority. This weekend, the number of symptomatic corona patients in the PA reached 3,360, Palestinian health officials in Ramallah reported. Thus far, the PA has seen a death toll of 16 from coronavirus and 637 patients have recovered.
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Most of the Palestinian corona patients have been identified in the Hebron area, where the number of positive cases stands at 2,576. District Governor Jabarin al-Bakri declared a localized closure starting July 1.
A total of 210 patients have been reported in the Bethlehem district, and another 178 in the Nablus district.
East Jerusalem has also seen a rise in corona cases and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion is working on outreach to the Arab residents. Magen David Adom has opened testing sites in Wadi Joz. All mosques in the city have been closed, with the exception of Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount.
Itsik Saban, Gideon Allon, Shachar Klaiman, Yori Yalon, and Dan Lavie contributed to this report.
