Israel’s Health Ministry confirmed 5,253 new coronavirus cases in the previous 24 hours on Thursday morning, the third day in a row that over 5,000 new daily virus cases were recorded, with tests showing a 5.5% positivity rate.

There are currently 42,402 active virus cases, with 639 seriously ill patients, of whom 165 are ventilated. The death toll has risen to 3,314.

Israel’s coronavirus czar Prof. Nachman Ash said on Wednesday evening that the current nationwide lockdown will not be effective in adequately reducing the infection rate, saying that the restrictions need to be tightened considerably.

“There is a big question mark about the effectiveness of the lockdown and we will probably have to recommend tightening it the coming days,” he said. “I am very concerned that we will not be able to vaccinate enough people [prior to a surge in cases].”

Prof. Ran Balicer, head of the government’s COVID-19 advisory panel, warned about the risk of virus cases on Army Radio on Thursday morning.

“We are seeing a worrying rise in infections,” he said. “At this rate, we’ll see a doubling in the number of infections over the next two to three weeks.”

“Even if we succeed in vaccinating 70% of Israelis over 60, we still won’t be able to avoid a rise in serious cases and fatalities. We have to vaccinate a significant percentage of the population before we can put [the pandemic] behind us.”

The Health Ministry reported on Thursday morning that almost 800,000 Israelis have been vaccinated.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)