Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, the head of the Health Ministry’s Public Health division, warned government ministers on Monday of the worrying increase of coronavirus cases in children under the age of nine, Ynet reported on Tuesday.

Dr. Preis presented a graph showing an increase in the number of cases in children under nine versus other age groups, in which cases decreased or at least remained steady.

There has been a sharp increase in the infection rate in children under nine from January until February. According to Health Ministry data, 11.2% of virus cases were found in children under the age of nine – or 1 our of 9 cases – at the end of January. In February, 19.7% of cases were found in children under the age of nine – or 1 out of 5 cases.

Another Ynet report said that 350 preschools have closed in recent weeks due to virus cases among children or staff members. Furthermore, a third of teachers in Israel’s schools haven’t been vaccinated.

Some of the preschools that were closed in recent days are located in Hod Hasharon, Ramat Hasharon, Givat Shmuel, Ofakim and Petach Tikvah.

As far as other age groups, there was an increase in cases among children 10-19 from January to February as well, but only a moderate increase, from 20.1% to 22.47%. There was also a moderate increase in virus cases among young adults aged 20-29, from 19.83% in January to 21% in February.

In summary, while in January, 51.16% of virus cases were found in Israelis under 30, by February the percentage rose to 63.23%.

There was a moderate decrease in infections among Israelis aged 30-49 from January to February and an even more significant decrease in infections in Israelis aged 50-59 – from 9.5% to 7.4%.

The most significant decrease seen from January to February was in Israelis aged 60 and over, who were the first to be vaccinated – from 12.1% (almost one in eight cases) to 6.94% (one in 14.5 cases).

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)