Beginning Wednesday, Israelis who test positive for the coronavirus but are asymptomatic as well as those exposed to a confirmed carrier will need to quarantine for five days instead of the previous seven. 

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram  

Confirmed carriers will need to take an at-home antigen test on the fourth and fifth day of their quarantine. Carriers can exit quarantine provided they test negative twice and are asymptomatic. Unvaccinated individuals exposed to a confirmed COVID carrier will be able to exit quarantine upon testing negative on the fifth day of their isolation period. 

In an interview with Army Radio on Wednesday morning, Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash said a record number of Israelis, 71,000, had been confirmed as infected with COVID-19 the previous day. He said 200,000 Israelis likely tested positive for the virus, as many had performed at-home antigen tests. 

According to Ash, there are 526 Israelis in serious condition. 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is set to hold talks with senior Health Ministry officials to formulate a plan to end the current policy of week-long quarantines for unvaccinated students exposed to a confirmed coronavirus carrier following public pressure. Bennett is said to have been more open to the move after officials said they expect the reproduction rate to decline significantly over the next seven to 10 days.

Bennett has proposed Israeli students be continuously tested for the virus, as has been the policy in other locations around the world. Those found to be infected with COVID would enter quarantine, while all those who test negative, regardless of their vaccination status, will be allowed to remain at school.

Meanwhile, the Finance and Culture and Sports Ministries have agreed on an aid package to compensate actors, stage workers, independent artists, cultural institutions, and culture halls that have been out of work for the months of January and February. 

As part of the package,  the government will transfer 28 million shekels (around $9 million) to cultural institutions that continue to employ their workers as well as to pay independent contractors involved in any performance or event canceled due to the coronavirus. Another 10 million shekels (around $3 million) will go toward artists severely impacted by the decline in performances for schools and other places through the state's immediate acquisition of hundreds of such performances. 

Another 50 million shekels (around $16 million) will go to local authorities across the country to benefit cultural activities. 

The government will further increase funding of artists in distress to six million shekels (around $2 million) and will act to increase access to the funds for stage workers. 

In addition, the ministries committed to expanding Israeli Cinema Day activities once morbidity levels decline. 

In a statement, Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman said, "We are constantly acting to keep the market active and functioning, and alongside this, we are providing assistance to sectors that have been harmed. This is what we did for the tourism and aviation sectors, and this is what we are now doing to help the cultural sector."

Culture and Sports Minister Chili Tropper said, "We are committed to the world of culture, and we will continue to stand with it as we have done. We have done everything we can to also help independent artists, childrens' artists, as well as stage workers and the institutions we hold so dear."

In a statement, Shaham – The Israeli Actors' Organization said, "This is positive progress, but God is in the details. We thank Culture Minister Chili Tropper for the great effort he made in recent weeks …. The bottom line: The compensation needs to reach the pockets of artists, creators, and stage workers. If the money remains in the hands of the institutions, we haven't done much. Therefore, in the coming days, we will study the fine print of the framework and ascertain the money goes to those who really need it."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Israel shortens quarantine as COVID chief reports 20,000 new cases appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Israel's number of new confirmed COVID cases continued to spiral, with 43,815 new COVID cases discovered Tuesday, the Health Ministry reported Wednesday, after 12.09% of the over 326,000 tests processed Tuesday came back positive.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

As of Wednesday morning, nearly 100,000 students in public schools were in quarantine, 73,550 of whom had active or symptomatic cases.

There were 222,877 active or symptomatic cases of COVID nationwide on Wednesday.

A total of 254 people were hospitalized in serious or critical condition, of whom 63 were on ventilators and 12 were hooked up to ECMO machines, figures that have more than doubled in a seven-day period.

Israel's COVID death toll since the start of the pandemic stands at 8,274.

Nearly 4.36 million Israelis have received both doses of the vaccine and a booster shot, and 424,130 have received both doses and two booster shots.

A team of researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who are advising the Coronavirus cabinet presented on Tuesday updated models that show that if the current wave of transmission continues, Israel will see new cases peak at 800,000 to 2 million in approximately two weeks, with anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 people hospitalized with serious cases. Some 2-5% of the serious cases are predicted to be children under 11, the researchers said.

On Monday, national coronavirus response coordinator Professor Salman Zarka warned that if more than 1,200 people were hospitalized for COVID at one time, the healthcare system would be unable to cope and a lockdown would be unavoidable.

Regional Cooperation Minister Esawi Frej told Ynet on Tuesday that Israel was heading toward herd immunity, adding that within three weeks, anywhere from 2 to 4 million people in the country should test positive.

On Tuesday, Israel cut the isolation time for asymptomatic COVID-19 cases from 10 days to seven, hoping to keep schools and the economy open as Omicron infections sweep the country.

People infected with the coronavirus and not suffering symptoms for three days can be out of isolation after seven days, the Health Ministry said in a statement. Those showing symptoms were required to continue to isolate for 10 days.

The decision came after a ministry study of 80 COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant of the virus. Lab tests showed that the likelihood of virus growth after seven days of illness was 6%, the Health Ministry said.

"The study conducted by Health Ministry experts shows that the chance that an Omicron patient will be contagious after this period of time is very low. We will not impose isolation beyond what is required, in order to maintain health, keep the economy, education system and culture going and to maintain routine life alongside the coronavirus," Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said.

Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton spoke Wednesday about her determination to keep schools open.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

"We are realizing more and more that it does immense damage to children, and we're now seeing the serious affects the lockdowns had on the kids. After a complicated year and a half and the mental health issues the students developed, we fought to start the school year on Sept. 1 despite criticism of the decision, and we made a commitment to keep school going for the sake of our children's emotional health and stability," Shasha-Biton said.

Despite the high numbers of COVID cases and quarantined students, Shasha-Biton said that "As of today [Wednesday], 90% of children are in school. I'm away of the problems and challenges. We are in difficult times and not everything is perfect, but we owe it to our children. I'll keep fighting for the 'Green Classroom' program to avoid needless quarantines," she said.

Meanwhile, healthcare officials warned Tuesday that Israel's Arab sector was poorly prepared for the Omicron wave.

A high-ranking official in the Arab healthcare sector in Jerusalem warned that the situation in the capital's Arab neighborhoods was about to "get out of control."

"In the morning, instructions say one thing, in the afternoon, another. There aren't clear decisions. The people at the top don't know how to manage things," the official said.

"People aren't buying home testing kits, or going to testing sites," the official added.

Arab communities in northern Israel appeared to be better off, although residents were still slower to respond to public health instructions than the general population in the rest of the country. The town of Shfaram has set up a testing site for members of any HMO.

Local officials said that they have seen increased demand for testing, and that messaging about COVID is consistent in schools.

i24NEWS contributed to this report

The post Israel could see up to 2 million COVID cases within 2 weeks, researchers warn appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The number of confirmed new COVID cases in Israel hit another record on Monday, with 37,847 people testing positive for the virus in a 24-hours period – the most in a single day since the pandemic hit Israel in early 2020, the Health Ministry reported Tuesday.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Of the 359,628 tests processed in the same 24 hours, 11.38% came back positive.

The reproduction rate (R) stood at 2.05 on Tuesday morning, meaning each confirmed carrier infects an average of 2.05 other people.

On Tuesday, there were 185,753 active or symptomatic cases in Israel, with 1,445 people hospitalized for COVID, including 247 in serious condition and 79 in critical condition. A total of 59 hospitalized patients were on ventilators, and 13 were attached to ECMO machines.

Since the start of the pandemic, Israel's death toll stands at 8,271. A total of 367,670 people have received two booster shots, and 4,346,855 people have received both original doses and a single booster.

Hadassah Ein Karem Medical Center reported Tuesday that its two COVID unties were full, and staff were preparing to open a third unit.

Meanwhile, medical staff shortages continue, with 3,743 in quarantine, including 542 doctors and 1,008 nurses.

Although Prime Minister Naftali Bennett expressed pride a few weeks ago in Israel having "bought time" to prepare for the Omicron wave, data presented Monday at an IDF Home Front Command press briefing showed that neither contact tracing nor medical laboratories were provided with additional resources ahead of the fifth wave. However, test processing personnel was doubled, and healthcare authorities inaugurated the use of a "bot" in contact tracing, the Home Front Command reported.

The "bot" traces contacts through the Whatsapp messaging app. It was first used last August, but became operational ahead of the Omicron wave. The Home Front command said that when there are over 3,000 new cases a day, it deploys the bot, and 30-50% of the population on whom the bot is used cooperate with the questioning.

The Omicron variant has caused testing to skyrocket. More than 342,141 PCR and antigen tests were conducted Sunday, according to Health Ministry figures. That's the second highest single-day figure behind a spike of more than 414,000 in late August, as Israel was rolling out its booster shots.

Last week, when the government authorized the use of home testing kits, rapid antigen tests became the most in-demand product for delivery platform Wolt — even more than food, its core business, officials said.

By Monday, as Wolt opened a modern headquarters in a blue building in Tel Aviv, someone was ordering an antigen test every three seconds – a reflection of widespread public anxiety and confusion over the government's constantly changing pandemic policies.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

Demand notwithstanding, the government had to issue instructions on Monday about how to use the tests, explaining the people need to swab their throat as well as their nose when using rapid antigen kits to increase the chances of detecting the Omicron variant.

The recommendation goes against the advice of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has said manufacturers' instructions should still be followed and that incorrect use of throat swabs could pose a safety risk.

Director of Public Health Services in the Health Ministry Dr. Sharon Elroi-Preiss said in an interview on Army Radio that antigen – or lateral flow – tests, used widely in the country, were less sensitive than PCR tests in detecting illness.

"In order to increase their sensitivity we will from now on recommend swabbing the throat and the nose. It's not what the manufacturer instructs but we are instructing this," she said.

The ministry later issued guidelines which said a swab should be taken from the throat and then from one nostril.

"It has the potential to improve the reliability of the test," coronavirus response chief Professor Salman Zarka told a news conference, adding that the ministry would release a video showing how to use the new method.

Zarka said the ministry had spoken with companies supplying the test kits before issuing the new recommendation.

Rhenium, one of the Israeli importers of antigen kits, said earlier the Health Ministry had not consulted with it before issuing the new guidelines and that the tests, not checked by the company for throat swabs, were intended for nasal swabs.

The post All COVID numbers rising, 247 patients in serious condition appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Once the number of COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition hits 1,200, quality of care will be affected and the Health Ministry will ask the government to instate a lockdown to curb the spread of the virus, Israel's national coronavirus response coordinator, Professor Salman Zarka, said at a press conference Monday.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Zarka spoke as the number of new COVID cases hit a record high on Monday. As of Monday morning, there were 222 COVID patients in serious condition, 71 patients in critical condition, 58 COVID patients on ventilators and 12 on ECMO machines.

"It's important we don't get to those numbers, and certainly not to a situation in which the hospitals can't cope. The more the numbers go up, we might have to approach the government and ask for a way of cutting them down significantly, like a lockdown. I hope we don't wind up there," Zarka said.

"Minor restrictions won't help – a lockdown like the first one, with people not allowed farther than 100 meters outside the house – will," he added.

According to Zarka, the number of confirmed cases is rising consistently, and has not yet peaked. "We have the ability to protect ourselves and make it through the next three to five weeks safely. The vaccine protects against serious cases, as well as transmission, and is also effective against the Delta variant, which still exists."

Zarka said it was important that groups at higher risk of developing serious cases avoid large gatherings, even ones that comply with the Green Pass vaccination certificate guidelines.

"There should be as little contact as possible right now," he said. "Anyone suffering from respiratory symptoms must stay home, get tested, and not go to work or school – that's how we'll avoid the risk of transmission. Just like we made it through the previous waves because we were responsible for one another, we'll make it through the current one peacefully and healthfully," Zarka said.

Touching on the authorities' revised guidelines for COVID testing, Zarka said that Israelis age 60 and over and members of at-risk groups had received text messages from their HMOs informing them that they were entitled to PCR tests.

"We offered the tests to this population as a result of prioritizing and policies that were adjusted for the Omicron wave. In a wave like this, no country can test everyone using PCR kits," he explained.

"We haven't yet rejected members of other groups from being PCR tested. We are allowing the public to adjust its behavior to the situation and keeping tabs on the situation," Zarka added.

When asked about the high number of hospital workers unavailable because they had contracted the virus or were in self-isolation pending test results, Zarka said that health authorities were examining possibilities that would allow essential workers – in the healthcare sector and other fields – to work.

Zarka also said that steps were being taken to expand COVID testing in schools, and that the number of testing facilities in schools would be increased from 250-260 to 600 in the next few days.

Monday ended with 30,970 new confirmed cases. There were 169,117 active or symptomatic cases nationwide.

Also on Monday, State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman said he would evaluate the government's decision-making process during the fourth and fifth COVID waves in Israel.

"In the previous waves, we checked, among other things, how the crisis was handled at the national level, how the Health Ministry functioned, including the system of testing; economic programs; and actions taken by the Education Ministry. We intend to look into some of these issues in the current wave, and whether lessons were learned from previous ones," Englman said.

Englman said that one of the issues he intended to examine was the government and healthcare system's handling of tests, the efficiency of testing sites, and the vaccination program. Aspects to be evaluated include purchasing and process.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!  

The post Lockdown may be unavoidable if serious COVID cases hit 1,200, top healthcare official warns appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

In a telephone meeting with senior health officials on Saturday evening, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett instructed that rapid testing be administered at entrances to nursery homes – including those vaccinated – to prevent outbreaks in the facilities.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Earlier in the day, an infection outbreak was reported in an elderly care home in the central Israeli town of Savyon, where 25 people tested positive for the virus, amid "high suspicions" that the infections were caused by the Omicron variant. All residents and staff members will be tested for COVID on Sunday.

Bennett also instructed officials to prepare for a possible sixth coronavirus wave and purchase an additional 50 million antigen test kits and conduct an equipment assessment across hospitals.

On Saturday, confirmed Omicron cases in Israel reached 1,118, more than triple the 341 cases reported on Tuesday. Of the 1,118 carriers, 723 have recently returned from abroad.

The Health Ministry also said that another 861 infections were suspected to be Omicron cases, pending test results.

On Friday, 1,775 new carriers were reported, the highest caseload in over two months when 1,816 new cases were reported on Oct. 12.

The reproduction rate, which relates to the number of people each confirmed carrier infects, reached 1.4, the highest in almost half a year, when an "R" number of 1.38 was reported on April 12. An infection rate of over 1 shows that morbidity is increasing.

Nevertheless, despite the rise in the infection rate, the number of serious cases has not increased significantly so far. Forty new serious cases were reported in the past seven days, a 73.9% increase from the week before.

One more city – Rishon LeZion – was designated as "red" due to high infection rates. There remain seven "orange" localities with slightly lower morbidity.

While in "green" and "yellow" communities studies will continue uninterrupted, in "red" and "orange" cities that have a vaccination rate of less than 70% learning will continue via Zoom or outdoors.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post PM urges preparations for possible 6th COVID wave appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.