Israel’s Health Ministry reported 1,641 new coronavirus cases in the previous 24 hours on Tuesday morning. There are currently 24,714 active cases, with 381 seriously ill patients, of whom 110 are ventilated. The death toll has risen to 619.

Jerusalem remains the city with the highest number of coronavirus cases, followed by Bnei Rak, Modi’in Illit, Ashdod and Tel Aviv.

Prof. Ran Balicer, a senior public health official at Clalit and an advisor to the Health Ministry on infectious disease epidemiology told Ynet on Tuesday that the “the decrease in the percentage of new infections is an optical illusion.”

“If we take away the survey [coronavirus] tests in nursing homes, what we see is a constant increase in new infections throughout the month of July,” he said. “There is no decrease in the number of infections, but stabilization of the increase.”

Balicer added that although the stabilization of infections is positive, Israel’s health system is still overloaded. “We won’t be able to handle this for long. It is overloading the health system and pushing it dangerously close to its limits.”

However, at least according to the Ynet report, Balicer did not offer any solutions to the problem, saying that he doesn’t support another national lockdown due to its effect on the economy.

“Lockdown at this time is not on the agenda yet due to the stabilization that we see. Closure is a quick and effective solution for lowering the infection rate, but it has an unbearable cost that affects the economy, society and public health.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)