Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash said over the weekend he estimated there would be no lockdowns during the upcoming school year in Israel.
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"I think Israeli students will be able to study many more days this year," he told Israel Hayom. "There might be some self-isolations, but we are looking into how to minimize them. I see no reason why the school year should not begin as planned."
Ash emphasized that parents played a significant role in making sure the upcoming school year will be free of COVID.
"The responsibility begins with the parents," he said. "They must get their children tested for the coronavirus before the school year. I call on each and every one of them to do the test and do it properly, and, obviously, if the results come back positive, not to send their children to school. In addition, throughout the year, if your child exhibits symptoms, you need to go and have them tested and not send them to school."
Ash also called on all Israelis to exhibit caution during the upcoming Jewish holidays.
"I understand that people want to celebrate the holidays together, but as much as you can, celebrations should be held outdoors and without large gatherings," he said. "For any celebration that includes senior citizens, one can buy a rapid test at the pharmacy and get tested before the gathering. I also take such tests and see if I test negative, which provides protection to the elderly."
Meanwhile, the Delta wave continues to show signs of subsiding. Of the 102,935 Israelis screened for the virus Saturday, 7,071 (7.09%) tested positive.
There are currently 80,579 active cases in the country, with 1,175 Israelis hospitalized. Of those, 191 are in critical conditon and 149 are on ventilators.
Israel has reported 1,046,748 cases, including 6,958 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic last year.
In the meantime, a new preprint study conducted in South Africa revealed that the C12 coronavirus variant that was first detected in the country back in May is the most mutated COVID strain so far.
Researchers from South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform said C12 has "mutated substantially" from another strain that was detected in the country in January – C1.
Experts warned it could be more infectious than any strain previously detected and even resistant to vaccines. C12 has already been detected in England, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius, New Zealand, Portugal, and Switzerland.
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