"The fifth wave of coronavirus, the Omicron wave, has started in Israel, along with continued outbreaks of Delta," an official in the IDF's National Coronavirus Knowledge and Information Center said Tuesday.
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At least 183 people have tested positive for COVID in a localized outbreak in Maaleh Adumim, mostly pupils in the city's public schools, the Health Ministry reported.
According to ministry data, 23 of the new confirmed cases in Maaleh Adumim are suspected to be the Omicron variant. Of the residents who contracted the virus, 48 were unvaccinated.
A total of 61 new cases were identified at the Dekel Vilnai School, with another 14 cases at the Tzemach Hasadeh School and 27 at the Aimr Ori School. There were additional cases in a number of nursery schools in the city.
Maaleh Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel decided to respond to the outbreak with a number of steps that include doubling the number of Home Front Command testing sites, bringing a mobile testing lab that will make the rounds of the city's schools next week, and stepping up the vaccination program for Maaleh Adumim residents, as well as stricter enforcement of COVID regulations.
Kashriel also ordered the schools at which Omicron cases were discovered to move classes to Zoom.
"We're working quickly and efficiently," Kashriel said.
As Israel is poised to launch an expanded campaign to vaccinate school pupils, Israel Hayom has learned that only 400 school nurses have agreed to join the campaign.
Last week, the Health Ministry, Education Ministry, and IDF Home Front Command started a vaccination campaign at elementary schools last week, with mobile vaccination units already set up in a few communities, including Yavne, Zemer, Rahat, and Karnei Shomron. But the school were notified that the vaccine-mobiles would be removed, with vaccinations to be administered by school nurses.
An estimated 874,000 school children ages five to 11 have not yet been vaccinated. Assuming that a school nurse can administers 100 vaccines per day, as many nurses as possible are needed.
As of Tuesday, only slightly more than one-quarter (26.7%) of elementary school pupils in Israel were vaccinated.
In a meeting with senior Health Ministry officials on Monday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett suggested that unvaccinated children in cities and towns designated "red" and "orange" under the traffic light system go back to distance learning.
A number of other proposals were made at the meeting, including expanding the green pass vaccination certificate requirements; an end to government funding for antigen tests for children; and a mandate that half of all employees in the public sector work from home.
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The officials agreed to meet again on Tuesday.
The national parent-teacher association responded to Bennett's suggestion that unvaccinated children stay out of public schools with a statement: "We will not lend our hand to separating students. A proposal like this is a disgrace to decision-makers in Israel. The orders issued today from the situation room about forcibly bringing COVID vaccines into schools is a coercive action that will lead to battles in schools, to serious mistakes, and mainly a lack of trust between parents and teaching staff."
"We call on the prime minister to reverse his decision and consider the will of the community and the school leadership and bring COVID vaccines in only where they are wanted. We call for a strike at any school that introduces vaccines despite local opposition. Our children aren't pawns and we will not allow unvaccinated children to be punished and kept out of schools," the PTA said.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus reproduction rate (R) in Israel hit a four-month high on Tuesday, standing at 1.28, meaning that every confirmed COVID carrier infects an average of 1.28 other people, the Health Ministry reported.
The percentage of COVID tests that come back positive was also increasing, with 1.27% of tests processed from Monday to Tuesday yielding positive results, the highest percentage since Oct. 20.
However, the numbers of seriously ill patients remain relatively stable, with 81 COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition as of Tuesday morning. Of the hospitalized patients, 48 were in critical condition, 41 were on ventilators, and 16 were attached to ECMO machines.
In the past seven days, three Israelis have succumbed to the virus, pushing Israel's cumulative COVID death toll to 8,232.
Ariel Kahana contributed to this report.
