As the number of new positive results for coronavirus continued to drop on Tuesday, with the Corona cabinet scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss easing lockdown restrictions, national corona commissioner Professor Ronni Gamzu on Wednesday visited the IDF Home Front Command's coronavirus command center.
Gamzu was joined by Health Ministry Deputy Director Professor Itamar Grotto and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi.
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"Once we exit lockdown, we will be able to cut off outbreak chains," Gamzu said.
"The ongoing drop in morbidity depends on another thing -- the willingness of every citizen to go get tested. You don't need to feel sick, you need the slightest suspicion; everything is accessible and quick. Even the matter of self-isolation is on the agenda. We are looking at shortening the isolation period and we have enough tests to do that," Gamzu added.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, meanwhile, visited with contact tracers being trained at the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, where he was expected to deliver a special announcement.
On Wednesday morning, the Health Ministry announced that the number of positive coronavirus test results for the past 24 hours was the lowest since July, with the daily number of new infections nearing the 2,000 benchmark -- below which authorities have said the current lockdown measures can start to be eased.
The ministry said just 2,255 cases were confirmed throughout Tuesday, bringing the country's total tally since the start of the pandemic to 297,274, of which 48,015 are active cases. Less than three weeks ago, new daily infections were above 8,000.
According to the data, 41,536 test results came back Tuesday – 5.4% of which were positive. That figure fluctuated around the 15% mark in late September and has dropped sharply. It had been between 7% and 8% for the past week, as the nationwide lockdown appeared to stunt the spread of the virus.
The number of serious patients was at 808, including 240 on ventilators. Another 263 were in moderate condition and the rest had mild or no symptoms at all.
Late Tuesday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and other ministers unanimously voted to extend the ongoing lockdown until Sunday night, October 1, essentially meaning that preschools will remain closed to start the week as opposed to previously hoped.
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