Despite coronavirus morbidity levels remaining relatively low, the reproduction rate has risen to 0.95, the highest recorded since Sept. 8, when it stood at 0.93. This is according to Health Ministry data.
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Israel's coronavirus infection rate stands at 0.72%, according to Health Ministry data. Of the 79,877 people to be tested for the virus Tuesday, 539 were found to have the disease.
There are 5,286 active cases of the virus. There are 138 people in serious condition, 91 of whom are on ventilators.
Although 1,324,912 Israelis have recovered from the coronavirus since the outset of the pandemic, 8,148 have died.
On the vaccination front, 6,260,513 Israelis have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, while 5,757,789 have received two doses. Over 4 million Israelis – 4,029,800 – have received all three available doses.
At a conference on pediatric medicine in Tel Aviv, Ash called the increased reproduction rate "concerning," but said, "We need to live with it, with a reproduction rate of around 1.
"We are at around 500 confirmed cases a day. I can't say I'm satisfied with this increase. If it stays this way, that's OK. If it surpasses 1, that's disturbing. I can say that we have in fact exited the fourth wave."
He said the around 500 new confirmed cases each day were higher than the new cases confirmed in the third wave, "but it could be that with today's conditions, that is the lowest we can get to."
As for the campaign to vaccinate children aged 5 to 11, Ash said: "The vaccines will arrive next week, and we can start next week. There are points we want to close on, both of vaccinating the recovered and the proposal to space out the first and second dose."
With hundreds of thousands of doses of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer's vaccines for children set to arrive in Israel next week, Ash said the government's team for the coronavirus would discuss the issue Sunday.
According to Ash, "The second challenge we face is identifying a decrease in the booster's [efficacy] early enough to have an answer [for the issue]. It's a complex challenge. We're following all the data, and it's not simple, in particular when morbidity is on the decline …. " There is also tracking of antibody levels, but that's not good enough to say the vaccine [efficacy] is on the decline."
As for concerns a new variant could emerge that could significantly diminish the vaccine's efficacy, Ash said: "The next challenge is to identify a dangerous variant somewhere in the world that either bypasses the vaccine or causes more serious illness. When such [a variant] is identified, and that's not so simple at an early stage, we need to see what kind of defenses we create. Here there are dilemmas over the closure of Ben-Gurion Airport, whether to [travelers from] specific countries or at all.
On Tuesday, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz and other senior ministry officials agreed that Israelis returning from overseas and foreign tourists entering Israel should be able to take rapid coronavirus tests instead of the usual PCR testing to board a plane. Mandatory PCR testing upon landing at Ben-Gurion Airport will remain in place.
Pending Knesset and government approval, the change in policy will allow travelers seeking to enter Israel to choose whether to take an antigen test or PCT test 24 hours before boarding their flight.
In a statement, the Health Ministry said the step was taken "in coordination with the Tourism and Transportation Ministries, in a joint effort to allow the renewal of incoming tourism and make it easier for Israelis traveling abroad while protecting public health."
Travelers who opt for antigen testing will need to undergo testing through a government-authorized body and not an at-home test. Travelers who are overseas for less than 72 hours will not need to undergo any testing before taking off for Israel.
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