There are 8,017 confirmed cases of the coronavirus as of Sunday afternoon, with 126 in serious condition of which 105 are sedated and on ventilators.

Israel marked its 48th fatality on Sunday afternoon when a 98-year-old woman passed away in Sha’arei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem.

The 47th fatality was a 61-year-old woman who passed away at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon on Sunday. The woman suffered from severe preexisting medical conditions and was brought to the hospital from a rehabilitation center, the hospital stated.

Israel marked it 45th and 46th fatalities overnight Motzei Shabbos when an 84-year old woman passed away at Soroka Medical Center and a 63-year-old man passed away at Hadassah Ein Kerem in Jerusalem

The woman was the sixth fatality from the Mishan nursing home in Be’er Sheva, where there has been an outbreak of the virus and the fourth fatality from the facility in the last three days. There have also been four fatalities from the Migal Nofim nursing home in Jerusalem.

Relatives of the coronavirus victims from the Mishan nursing home in Be’er Sheva are preparing to file a lawsuit against the facility’s administration and the Health Ministry for medical malpractice, Israeli media reports said.

The relatives claim that the nursing home staff and Health Ministry officials did not quarantine the patients or carry out testing for COVID-19 on the residents or the staff after an outbreak hit the facility.

“This is not neglect, the CEO of Mishan responded. “We didn’t anticipate this crisis. We’re turning our nights into days, we’re not sleeping, not eating and not even breathing in order to respond to the crisis. Where is the State?”

On Friday, a senior Health Ministry official told Channel 13 News that the ministry was not equipped to handle outbreaks of the coronaviurs in Israel’s nursing homes, which number about 700. A decision was made for the IDF’s Home Front Command to manage Israel’s nursing homes as of next week, although soldiers will not take part in the direct care of the residents.

The Knesset is holding discussions on Sunday regarding the number of tests for the coronavirus being carried out in Israel in the wake of the Health Ministry’s decision over the weekend to narrow the criteria required to be tested for the virus amidst a shortage of reagents, the chemical compounds necessary for testing.

Israel is currently testing less than 10,000 people a day, far short of the goal of 30,000 that Netanyahu set last week. According to a Haaretz report, the shortage of the chemicals is due to the closing of a South Korean factory which produces the compound as well as the nationalization of a German factory which also produces the chemicals. Israel is reportedly currently in negotiations with a Chinese company to procure the chemicals needed for increased testing.

“Israel is one of the last countries in the world to seek medical supplies and is now in an impossible race with Europe and the United States,” a senior official told Ynet. Another official said that a lack of tests has left decision-makers without crucial information on whom to isolate and which locations to lockdown.

According to the new criteria decided over the weekend, a person experiencing coronavirus symptoms can only be tested if he/she has been abroad or in the Palestinian Authority 14 days before the onset of symptoms. People without symptoms can only be tested if he/she was with a confirmed coronaviurs patient for over 15 minutes or has returned from a country abroad with a serious coronavirus outbreak, such as the US, Italy or France.

Defense Minister Naftali Bennett warned on Sunday morning on Israel radio that if Israel doesn’t significantly increase the number of tests it performs, it won’t be able to take steps to revive the economy after Pesach.”We’re working blindly,” he said.

Also in relation to the economy, Israel’s Bituach Leumi (National Insurance) has admitted that it won’t be able to transfer unemployment payments before Pesach or the NIS 500 grants for each child and stipends for the elderly that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised last week.

“Normally we handle about 17,000 requests for unemployment every month. Since March 15th we’re handling more than a million requests,” the head of the Bituach Leumi, Meir Spiegler,  said in an interview with Maariv on Sunday morning, adding that the system is simply not equipped to transfer the money before Pesach.

Also, ahead of the approaching Yom Tov, the Defense Ministry is involved in distributing groceries to elderly Israelis as part of their work in Operation Guards of Gold to assist Israel’s elderly citizens during the coronavirus crisis.

מרגש: חיילי צה״ל דואגים לדור מייסדי המדינה –
350,000 סלי מזון יחולקו לקשישים

צילום: דובר צה״ל pic.twitter.com/XEuJVcNkcn

— עכשיו 14 (@Now14Israel) April 4, 2020

The Israel Ministry of Defense has signed an agreement with five of Israel’s biggest supermarket chains, to compile and distribute food supplies to 350,000 elderly citizens ahead of the Passover holiday.

— Ministry of Defense (@Israel_MOD) April 4, 2020

In Bnei Brak, United Hatzalah volunteers took over the operation of a Bnei Brak nursing home on Friday after most of the facility’s staff members were diagnosed with the coronavirus. United Hatzalah EMTs worked throughout Shabbos to provide medical care and dispense medications to each of the 50 residents at the home. The volunteers will continue to care for the residents until new medical staff members can take their place.

הצוות הרפואי חלה בקורונה – איחוד הצלה הפעילו בהתנדבות את בית האבות https://t.co/200opCCi9I<<
צילום: איחוד הצלה pic.twitter.com/90uE1BbfQc

— עכשיו 14 (@Now14Israel) April 4, 2020

The head of the IDF Central Command, Maj. Gen. Nadav Padan, entered self-quarantine on Sunday after a civilian he had contact with was diagnosed with the coronavirus.

An Israir flight took off on Motzei Shabbos to China in order to airlift 20 tons of medical supplies back to Israel, the airlines’ first flight to the Far East since the Israeli government closed its borders to China. The flight is stopping in Almaty, Kazakhstan to refuel and will then continue to Shenzhen, China to pick up the supplies, including two million masks. The flight is expected to arrive back in Israel on Monday morning.

A mild earthquake measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale was felt in the Eilat areaon Sunday morning. There were no reports of injuries or deaths.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)