A total of 9,589 Israelis tested positive for coronavirus on Monday, the Health Ministry reported Tuesday. The percentage of positive results of the 127,000 tests processed stood at 7.6%.
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Since the start of the COVID epidemic in Israel, over half a million – 504,269 – inhabitants of the country have tested positive for the virus.
As of Tuesday morning, 1,759 COVID patients were hospitalized nationwide. Of these, 1,027 were listed in serious condition, including 247 patients who were on ventilators. The cumulative COVID death toll in Israel stood at 3,704.
Meanwhile, as the number of new cases climbs – due in a large part to highly contagious variants from Britain and South Africa – Israel is vaccinating as quickly as possible. As of Tuesday morning, over 1.9 million people had received the first dose of the COVID vaccine, 20.5% of the population.
The Health Ministry expects that by the end of March, 5 million Israelis will have been vaccinated against coronavirus, Dr. Orly Greenfeld, medical director of the country's vaccination campaign, told reporters in a special briefing on Monday. Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said Sunday that 5 million Israelis will have received at least the first dose of a COVID vaccine by the end of March.
"Together with the recovered patients and people with [COVID] antibodies, we can reach a total of 6 million people with antibodies, which will mean we can reopen a lot of what has been closed down. We are preparing a gradual, safe reopening," Greenfeld said.
"As more vaccines arrive, we will continue on to the next target groups, and expand to people ages 55-60. Of course, also teachers and special education workers and people age 60 and over who haven't been vaccinated," Greenfeld added.
Israel's healthcare providers are preparing a push to vaccinate teachers. Forms have already been sent out to educators. In fact, not only teachers, but all employees of public schools and daycare centers, will be eligible to be vaccinated.
However, despite the progress in vaccinating the population, corona coordinator Professor Nachman Ash said Tuesday in an interview to Radio 103 FM that while he hoped Israel could end the lockdown as scheduled next Thursday (Jan. 21), if the numbers of new confirmed cases and patients in serious condition did not drop, he would recommend the lockdown be extended.
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Ash also said that he expected Israel to have vaccinated 5 million people by mid-March. "I think we'll be able to vaccinate kids 12 and over within two months. We're waiting for studies and approval from the FDA," he said.
Israel's vaccination campaign, which has won international praise, has Czech President Miloš Zeman and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš to reach out to Israel for advice on how to distribute and administer vaccines to its own population, which numbers some 10.6 million, as quickly as possible.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Babiš are slated to discuss the matter in the next few days.
Also on Monday, Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevitch, has set in motion an initiative for Israel to take responsibility for vaccinating Holocaust survivors all over the world.
Yankelevitch has instructed the Shalom Corps, an organization that works under the auspices of her ministry, to begin handling the administrative aspects of the complicated program.
