The number of symptomatic coronavirus patients in Israel stood at 23,325 on Sunday morning, after weekend testing resulted in a relatively high rate of positive results.
The 9,246 coronavirus tests that were processed nationwide on Saturday identified 761 carriers, a 9% positive rate.
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On Sunday morning, 876 Israelis were hospitalized for coronavirus, 396 of whom were listed in serious condition. Of those 396, 114 were on ventilators. Another 177 hospitalized coronavirus patients were listed in moderate condition.
The death toll from the virus reached 679 on Sunday, and a total of 92,404 Israelis are confirmed to have contracted the virus since the start of the epidemic.
Cities listed "red" under the Health Ministry's new traffic light system included Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Modi'in Illit, Betar Illit, Ilut, Ein Naqquba, Sha'ab, Kafr Bara, Lapid and Ilbun.
On Sunday morning Israel's coronavirus coordinator Professor Ronni Gamzu was interviewed by Kol Barama radio and hinted that some rabbis were not cooperating with government health directives.
"In Modi'in Illit the virus is still spreading. Unlike other Haredi cities, where there is a high rate of infection, but the spread has stopped. The percentage of positive tests is 25-305, which means that people aren't being tested. Rabbis and city leaders need to cooperate with the authorities," Gamzu said.
Touching on the sensitive issue of synagogue activity, Gamzu said, "Synagogues are a big challenge. Right now, there is no solution. We have four weeks to create a framework that will enable people to pray safely during the Days of Awe. I want to see more testing in the Haredi public.
"Anyone who is showing symptoms but does not get tested infects others. I am very unhappy with what is happening the Haredi sector, and I'm angry when I see apathy and failure to follow instructions. On the other hand, I don't want to punish [them] with a full closure, I want to give them a chance," Gamzu said.
On Friday, the Health Ministry urged the public to stay away from the Arab Israeli town of Yarka because of the rate at which coronavirus was spreading there. However, Yarka was still listed "orange" in Sunday's data. On Saturday the IDF announced it would be setting up a drive-through coronavirus testing site in Yarka.
Nationwide, over 2,000 members of health care professions were in quarantine on Sunday, including 272 doctors, 568 nurses, and 1,174 other health care workers.
In related news, a report from the legal department of the Health Ministry said that over one-quarter (27%) of confirmed coronavirus carriers in Israel have been identified as a result of electronic tracking by the Shin Bet security agency.
The Shin Bet's tracking measures, which have been the subject of controversy, have located 2,827 out of the 10,206 coronavirus carriers identified last week, the report said.
According to the report, each of the carriers identified last week had come into contact with an average of 4.2 people. This past week, 43,464 people received notifications that they were required to quarantine themselves.
In the past month and a half, over half a million Israelis have been instructed to enter quarantine, the report said.
Last week, 13 people refused to quarantine themselves or confirm that they were in quarantine. Their cases were reported to the Israel Police. There were also a few cases of suspected carriers testing negative for coronavirus immediately after receiving positive test results. People who had been ordered to quarantine themselves because contact tracing showed that they had come into contact with these individuals were released from quarantine.
The report also stated that some electronic tracing had been conducted in error, because phone numbers had been entered into the system incorrectly. In one case, the device of a healthy person who had the same name as a confirmed coronavirus carrier was assigned for tracing.
The Health Ministry said that last week, a hotline set up to allow citizens to appeal their quarantine orders had fielded 22,554 calls. Over half of the callers were released from quarantine after their cases were reviewed, and 48 had the length of their quarantine shortened.
Senior deputy legal advisor for the Health Ministry Talia Agmon reported these figures to MK Zvi Hauser (Derech Eretz), head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Hauser has asked that continued electronic tracking of carriers' phones be made conditional on quarantine being shortened from 14 days to 12.
"There is no country that is putting so many people into quarantine," Hauser said.
"I intend to ask that along with the medical report, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee receive a report from the Finance Ministry that assesses the scope of the economic damage if the existing policy and extent of mandatory quarantine continues," Hauser said.
Over the weekend, the Health Ministry published a position paper in which is recommended that the mandatory period of quarantine for people who were exposed to confirmed carriers remain at 14 days.
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