Despite concerns over the wide-scale opening of the economy, Israel's reproduction rate has decreased to 0.9, according to a new report by the military task force on the coronavirus released Wednesday.
In an interview with Tel Aviv-based 103 Radio, Wednesday, coronavirus chief Nachman Ash said, "There won't be a lockdown before the elections [to be held March 23] or Passover [which begins the evening of March 27].
With 3,055 of the 94,783 people who tested for the coronavirus found to be carrying the disease, Tuesday, Israel's infection rate now stands at 3.3%. The weekly average for daily infections is now 3,269.
There were 653 serious cases in Israel as of Tuesday, compared to the weekly average of 691. One week ago, the weekly average was 741.
There are now 38,577 people with the virus in Israel, 215 of whom are on ventilators.
Although 765,133 people have recovered from the disease, 5,936 have died.
The all-around decrease in cases has led Health Ministry officials to contemplate the further easing of coronavirus restrictions ahead of the summer vacation. While the Health Ministry has yet to determine a framework for rapid testing that will allow children and the unvaccinated to enter public spaces that now require a green pass, they may not require testing to visit open-air attractions.
According to a senior Health Ministry official, "There are places where there could be a need for frequent testing, like at the entrance to swimming pools, and we are considering forgoing the demand for rapid testing at such places. If morbidity rates continue to decline, there may be some open-air places where we will allow entry without tests. We are enthusiastically promoting the issue of a green pass for rapid testing and we hope that provides us with a solution to the majority of the places children should enter."
Meanwhile, the military task force remains cautious in its report, noting the infection rate "has been on the decline for around a month and the weekly average stands at around 4%, even with the extent of testing increased significantly, a sign that could point to a reduction in the extent of infections. The number of seriously ill is relatively high but continues to slowly decline. Nevertheless, the continued easing of restrictions could lead to infections expanding and a renewed increase in morbidity, primarily among middle-aged [individuals] who have yet to be vaccinated.
So far, 5,035,562 Israelis have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, and 3,940,352 have received both doses.
The government allocated 5 million shekels to be distributed to local authorities to set up campaigns to encourage Israelis over the age of 50 and over, the most vulnerable group when it comes to contracting the virus, to get vaccinated. The authorities will be able to use the grant to advance their vaccination efforts, transport patients to the vaccination sites, purchase equipment, set up call centers and conduct surveys.
A number of senior physicians that have encouraged vaccination, among them the Health Ministry's director of public health services Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis and Professor Galia Rahav, who heads Sheba Medical Center's Infectious Disease Unit, have been the target of death threats and incitement on social media in recent weeks.
The Health Ministry has condemned the phenomenon and the Israeli Medical Association has called for an investigation into the inciters, according to a report by Channel 12 News.
Meanwhile, a new initiative is allowing relatives of victims of the coronavirus to share their stories on social media.
"Every one of the deceased is an entire world," Or Guetta, 31, tells Israel Hayom. Guetta, who accompanies some of the families as they write about their relatives' lives, said he hoped to keep the people from becoming statistics.
He said the main challenge was ensuring they were able to speak to relatives of victims from all sectors of society and all across the country.
Computer programmers from the Dror Israel educational movement initiated the project and are responsible for its technical aspects.
"At the beginning of the corona period in Israel, every quarantined person and every deceased person was afforded respect in the public and media discourse. We slowly noticed that the names of the people and their stories were being replaced with numbers and graphs," Amit Yizraeli, one of the programmers behind the project, said.
According to Yizraeli, "We found it really grating. In small talk, at Friday night meals, we just all talked about it and decided we wanted to do something about it."
