The Health Ministry held a special media briefing Friday, citing a troubling spike in the number of coronavirus cases diagnosed daily.
After several days in which the daily corona tally dropped down to single-digits and, at times, no new cases were diagnosed, the ministry said that on Friday alone, 85 people were diagnosed with COVID-19.
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Outgoing Health Ministry Director Moshe Bar Siman-Tov attributed the spike in coronavirus infections to the public not following social distancing guidelines, as the economy has been gradually returning to its pre-pandemic activities.
He noted that senior officials in the Health, Education, and Finance ministries, as well as the National Security Council, were holding discussions on the latest developments and the best course of action to counter the increase in infections so as to prevent a situation where another economic lockdown is necessary.
"We had a period of euphoria. Now we have received a wake-up call," Bar Siman Tov said.
Ministry data suggests that the majority of new infections are in schools, with 7% coming from middle schools and 35% from high schools, he explained.
"We knew there would be a period of trial and error," he said when asked whether the decision to reopen the school system was premature. "If the data shows we need to close schools down again, we will do so.
"We're trying to reach a balance between maintaining a low number of infections and opening up the economy," he added.
So far, 16,887 Israelis have contracted the virus, 37 of them are in serious condition. As of Friday, 14,727 patients have recovered from COVID-19, which has claimed the lives of 284 Israelis.
Bar Siman-Tov said the ministry is closely monitoring the centers of infection and assessing the situation.
