Israel’s Health Ministry confirmed 7,527 new coronavirus cases on Friday morning in the previous 24 hours. The positive testing rate also broke a record, climbing to 12.8%.

There are currently 60,786 active virus cases, with 669 seriously ill patients, of whom 167 are ventilated. The death toll has risen to 1,378 after a grim record of 61 deaths were confirmed on Thursday, the highest number since the pandemic began, with another nine deaths confirmed on Friday.

A Channel 12 News report on Thursday night listed the government’s criteria for lifting the lockdown:

• A basic reproduction number [an epidemiological term that indicates how contagious an infectious disease is by measuring the expected number of transmitted cases from one case] of less than one, for a week.
• Less than 500 daily cases.
• Less than 50 seriously ill patients.
• Less than 5% of coronavirus tests confirmed as positive (2% less than the 7% cited by Health Ministry Deputy Director-General Itamar Grotto last week).
• Less than ten virus hotspots throughout Israel.
• The government’s ability to halt the infection cycle within 48 hours.

A study by the Weizmann Institute of Science says that the infection rate won’t significantly decrease until November, meaning that the economy will have to remain closed until then.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)