The Health Ministry admitted on Wednesday that it probably undercounted – by as many as 53 – the fatalities among nursing home residents due to the coronavirus in July and August.
An explanation for the discrepancy, according to the Health Ministry, is that various private nursing homes in the country report their data separately.
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Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, who only started his role on May 17, maintained that he was taking the matter "very seriously" and he had instructed his staff to undertake a thorough investigation into how such a counting error had been made.
Edelstein "promised the public that the investigation would be transparent and its results shared."
The ministry asserted that it would look into any other cases of underreported deaths, although it claimed that none was found in the mortality data before July.
Prior to the discovery of the data error, Israel's death toll stood at 719, although that number climbed to 783 as of Thursday afternoon following the error correction.
As of Thursday afternoon, according to the Corona National Information and Knowledge Center, there were 23,743 active cases of the coronavirus across the country. There were 401 people in serious condition and 163 in moderate condition. The death toll stands at 783.
The country is reportedly on the verge of another lockdown of some form, especially with the upcoming Jewish holidays, starting with Rosh Hashanah taking place in little more than a month and concern that large gatherings of people could lead to more outbreaks.
Consequently, the corona cabinet is expected to convene Thursday to decide on several critical issues. The head of the national anti-corona campaign, Professor Ronni Gamzu, will likely present a plan to significantly reduce the morbidity rate while avoiding a comprehensive lockdown, by implementing isolated lockdowns in cities, towns, and communities with high infection rates, mainly from the Arab and ultra-Orthodox sectors.
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