Hundreds of medical staff working at coronavirus testing facilities are exhausted and may soon go on strike, Israel Hayom learned Monday.
The laboratories testing Israelis for the virus have been working around the clock for weeks, yet they are severely understaffed, meaning lab technicians often work 16 and even 24-hour shifts.
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On Monday, their union said that unless the Finance Ministry and Treasury find a solution for the staffing problem, they will declare a go-slow, cutting shifts to eight hours.
This means thousands of coronavirus tests will go unchecked each day, creating a bottleneck and impeding the efforts to curb the pandemic.
Israeli labs currently decipher some 30,000 COVID-19 tests a day. Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said he wants to double testing capacity, something medical personnel say is currently impossible.
Israel's coronavirus tally currently stands at 62,626 cases. While '27,077 Israelis have recovered from the virus, the national death toll as of Monday was 473.
The Health Ministry said that 317 patients are in serious condition, with 104 of them on ventilators.
Between Sunday and Monday fewer than 8,000 coronavirus tests were carried out – a significant drop compared to testing levels over recent weeks – with 9.2% of the subjects testing positive for the virus.
The ministry offered no explanation for the decline in testing over the past few days.
Widespread testing combined with swift epidemiological assessments is considered a key strategy in the government's efforts to contain the second coronavirus outbreak.
Newly-appointed coronavirus commissioner Professor Ronni Gamzu said over the weekend that he plans to appoint a team of hospital representatives to report to him if they believe the healthcare system is on the verge of being overwhelmed by the growing infection rate.
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According to Health Ministry data, four hospitals – Shaare Tzedek and Hadassah Ein Kerem in Jerusalem, the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv, and the Shamir Medical Center in Be'er Yaakov – have already exceeded their capacity for coronavirus patients.
The coronavirus ward at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan was at 90% capacity.
