Five people died from COVID-19 on Monday morning, bringing the coronavirus death toll in Israel to 112, the Health Ministry said. Former Chief Sephardi Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron was among the fatalities, marking Israel's first high-profile death from the pandemic.
According to the ministry's data, 11,235 Israelis have so far been diagnosed with the coronavirus. Of them, 181 are in serious condition and 133 people are on ventilators. Some 1,689 had recovered and the rest were displaying mild symptoms.
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The cabinet was slated to discuss the limitations placed on the public over the pandemic on Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, not all seemed well between the top officials at the Health Ministry: Ministry Director Moshe Bar Siman-Tov and his deputy, Professor Itamar Grotto, who appear to fundamentally disagree on the next step in dealing with the pandemic.
Bar Siman-Tov has long advocated stricter limitations on public life, while Grotto seems to believe the worst is behind Israel.
"I think we can say that we've pretty much succeeded in the stage of stopping the spread" of the coronavirus, Grotto said on Sunday, adding that unless something dramatic happened in the next few days, "It can be said that we're in a relatively stable situation, and we're in the stopping phase. Now, we need to see how we get out of this."
Bar Siman-Tov, for his part, said Sunday that while "I understand it's hard to stay at home for so long, and the public has proven and is proving its ability to keep to the regulations and protect everyone's families.
"Getting together over the holiday endangers all of our lives," he warned. "We've seen what happened in other countries where discipline flagged and we need to be disciplined the whole time."
Both statements came against the backdrop of reports saying the Health, Finance, and Education ministries were devising a plan that would allow for the educational system to resume at least partial activity after the Passover holiday.
