69,201 people were diagnosed yesterday (Thursday) as positive for Corona. This was updated by the Ministry of Health. A total of 344,000 tests were performed and the positive rate was 20.13%. The percentage of positives is high because those who receive a negative answer in home tests do not usually get tested in PCR tests and institutional antigen tests, which are the only ones included in this count. Since the beginning of the month, more than 781,000 positive cases for corona have been diagnosed in Israel.
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Data from the Ministry of Health show that the number of active patients in Israel is 427,023. The number of isolators stands at 195,066. The data show that 169,125 of the active patients are students, which also constitutes 114,785 of the isolates. In other words, according to the data before the beginning of Shabbat – 60% of Israelis in isolation are students in the education system. It should be noted that from Thursday next week the procedures for isolating students will change and the number is expected to drop.
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Corona testing complex in Tel Aviv
(Photo: Yair Sagi)
The number of corona patients in critical condition continues to rise and now stands at 638. Yesterday, 156 new serious patients were added, the highest daily number of new serious patients since the third wave in January 2021. The Ministry of Health updated that from midnight to around 14:00 today 116 new serious patients were added . On the other hand, the condition of critically ill patients has improved and they are no longer defined as critically ill. The Ministry of Health does not specify how many seriously ill patients are with Delta and how many with Omicron. In addition, a number of critically ill patients – as the Ministry of Health recently acknowledged – include patients who came to be hospitalized for another reason – and were diagnosed at the hospital as positive for Corona.
Due to the widespread morbidity Israel is ranked second in the world in the number verified relative to the population in the last seven days. Israel is preceded only by the Faroe Islands, which have less than 50,000 inhabitants. Along with Israel, Andorra, Saint Pierre and Miquelon (islands off Canada), Greenland, Denmark and France are also at the top of the world list.
Data from the Ministry of Health show that the chance of developing a serious illness among unvaccinated people aged 60 and over is 6.25 times higher than among vaccinated people at these ages. In the age group of people under 60, the chance of developing a serious illness among the unvaccinated is 2.4 times higher.
The Ministry of Health updated that another corona patient died today, and the number of deaths since the outbreak of the plague stands at 8,371. Since the beginning of the month, 120 corona patients have died in Israel.
Due to the very high morbidity, almost all localities in Israel are red. In Jerusalem 32,679 active patients, in Tel Aviv Jaffa 21,363, in Petah Tikva 14,468, in Be’er Sheva 11,394, in Rishon Lezion 10,919, in Haifa 10,718, in Netanya 10,566, in Ashdod 9,848, in Bnei Brak 9,490, in Holon 8,404, in Ashkelon 7,372, in Ramat Gan 7,004, in Rehovot 6,74 5,668, in Kfar Saba 4,967, in Beit Shemesh 4,761, in Modi’in Maccabim Reut 4,567, in Hadera 4,564, in Lod 4,454, in Ramla 4,230, in Nazareth 4,220, in Herzliya 3,754, in Raanana 3,613, in Kiryat Gat 3,215, in Netivot 3,127, in Afula 3,084 and in Elad 3,025.
Only four localities are defined as green – Masoudin al-Azzazma, Bir HaDaj, Katzr a-Sir and the Vashla tribe. Eight localities are yellow and two are orange – also Bedouin localities in the Negev.
The rate of positive tests in the last week in Modi’in Illit is 39%, in the ridges it is 37%, in Beitar Illit 32%, in Bnei Brak 29%, in Beit Shemesh 28%, in Shefar’am 24%, in Jerusalem 24%, in Holon 18%, in Petah Tikva 17%, in Netanya 17%, in Tel Aviv 16%, in Be’er Sheva 16%, in Rishon Lezion 15%, in Haifa 15% and in Beit She’an 12%.
Meanwhile the number of vaccinated in the first and third doses continues to decline. Yesterday, 1,300 Israelis were vaccinated with the first dose of vaccine. This is the lowest number this month, including weekends. For comparison, on January 2, we vaccinated over 10,000 Israelis in the first dose. Yesterday, 3,436 Israelis were vaccinated with the third vaccine dose, and this is also the lowest number since Saturday, January 1.
6,829 of those verified yesterday were previously ill in Corona. This is about 10% of all verified yesterday.
Meanwhile, and after yesterday Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced a “testing and learning” program that is supposed to put an end to isolations in the education system, the health system is also suffering from distress in light of the frequent isolations. The workload between the various hospitals varies, but according to the professional bodies in the corona wards, the main concern is not because of the increase in the number of patients, but because of the severe shortage of doctors, doctors, nursing staff and farm workers.
Data from the Ministry of Health show that 9,867 medical staff are absent from work because they are verified or are in isolation. Just earlier this week the number stood at 7,716.
1,233 physicians are verified patients and 146 are in isolation. 2,449 nurses are defined as active blue and 467 in isolation. In addition, there are 5,572 other sector people in the health system – most of them active patients. 5,364 of the verified or isolated are employees in general hospitals, 3,446 are HMO employees and a further 87 are employees of the Ministry of Health or administrative units in the Ministry of Health.
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Prime Minister Naftali Bennett
(Photo: Noam Rivkin Fenton)
Following last week’s publication in Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth, according to which the Ministry of Health is considering allowing positive health workers to return to work in order to address the manpower shortage, Corona’s professor Prof. Salman Zarka confirmed this week in a press briefing and said that this was indeed considered. However, since then no official directive has been issued to hospitals allowing this. Apparently, even eliminating the isolations for those exposed to the verified will not help significantly in the hospitals.
“We have a number of open corona wards, three wards and two smaller units,” said Dr. Zvi Sheleg, deputy director of the Galilee Medical Center. More”.
“This is a wave of vital positives, workers whose absence, even though the disease is asymptomatic or relatively mild in the vast majority of cases, makes it very difficult to treat wards, especially when the blanket is short in the first place.”
Dr. Snow added: “We have not canceled surgical activity and the hospital is on the order of 90 per cent occupancy, which is high occupancy, the internal departments are busier but we have not yet reached the point where the shortage of manpower requires us to cancel elective activity. As we look at our reference scenario, the real challenge is teams. Already today I have wards where a significant part of the staff are positive or exposed and are in isolation and a ward that lacks three doctors and ten nurses is a ward that is very difficult to function in. We do assume that the wave will continue to develop in Israel. ”
Dr. Ilya Kagan, director of the Corona Intensive Care Unit at Beilinson Hospital, told Ynet that “the team is currently divided between the two departments, and a large part of the team is sick itself. What is special about this wave is that we are in uncertainty. Each time the number of staff members decreases, both nursing and medical staff. This is the main problem, more than the sick wave. We do not have enough manpower. Hospitalizations are shorter compared to previous waves and less severe. There are serious patients, but less than in the past. I personally think the fact that the staffs are sick is a more serious problem. From my point of view it is difficult to absorb patients mainly due to lack of staff, but the hospital has not yet hit the planned outpatient treatment, and the main question is when it will be halted. We are on the edge in terms of team capabilities. “