Among the 30,000 Israelis who traveled to Uman in Ukraine to worship at the grave of Rabbi Nahman of Breslev over the High Holidays, some 3,440 have already tested positive upon their return to Israel, health authorities reported Sunday evening.
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Of the positive cases among the Uman pilgrims, 25% were hospitalized and 19 were listed in serious conditions. Four of the Uman visitors have already died, with two of the deaths confirmed to be from COVID and the two other fatalities under investigation. A whopping 81% of the Uman visitors who contracted COVID were unvaccinated, and 91% are under age 50.
"This is a 10% positive rate, which is very high. The confirmed carriers cooperated only partly with the contact tracing, but I hope that they protected themselves and their family members," a senior healthcare official said.
Meanwhile, among the general population, 3,208 new cases were confirmed on Sunday, the Health Ministry reported Monday morning, a positive rate of 4.26% of the tests processed. The virus reproduction rate (R) was also down to 0.77, but it was unclear whether these lower figures were due to an actual decline in the number of cases or the fewer tests processed during the holidays.
As of Monday morning, there were 671 COVID patients listed in serious condition, with 90% of the serious cases contracted by people who had not received the booster shot.
Nearly 120,000 public school students, who are scheduled to go back to school this week after the Sukkot holiday ends, were in quarantine on Monday, and 3,843 teachers and other educational staff were in quarantine.
Authorities expect that the return to school, as well as Israelis returning from vacations abroad, will cause a spike in the number of new cases over the next few weeks that will begin to drop if the public continues to be vaccinated and observe public health precautions.
Healthcare officials have warned that Tuesday through Thursday this week, testing sites are expected to be unusually crowded because of the tests required by Israelis returning from abroad and home antigen tests whose results demand a second test. The IDF Home Front Command is currently operating 160 testing sites, 30 more than were available as of Rosh Hashanah on Sept. 6. However, one official said, "Community clinics are still not giving it their all."
On Sunday, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz convened a press conference at Wolfson Medical Center at which he expressed his satisfaction at the efficacy of the COVID booster shot and the government policy of "not instating lockdowns and not harming the economy."
Also on Sunday, Israel received its first shipment of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, N12 reported. The AstraZeneca vaccines will be offered to Israelis who have sensitivities to components of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
Recent studies have indicated that the AstraZeneca vaccine might not require recipients to get a booster shot.
In related news, Israel's Coronavirus cabinet is scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. Sunday for the first time in over a month.
The cabinet is meeting as the number of serious COVID cases remains high and after unprecedented public criticism from healthcare experts, published a few days ago, of the government's policy during the latest Delta wave.
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