Israeli health officials believe that the current coronavirus situation in the country is the “most hopeful it’s been since the start of the pandemic,” Channel 13 News reported.

The infection rate has been on a steady decline in recent weeks as well as the number of seriously ill patients, with 644 seriously ill patients reported on Sunday, of whom 191 are ventilated. The positivity test rate has dropped to 2.9%.

Israel’s reproduction or R rate (the number of people each carrier infects) has dropped to 0.78, the lowest rate in five months. The death toll has increased to 5,988.

So far so good: R continues to drop, now at 0.78

Lockdown ended a month ago, and a week ago the economy opened nearly fully

At a similar stage in the exit from the previous lockdown, R was already at 1.1 and on its way up https://t.co/D2mvAOZ2al pic.twitter.com/PjfB5oj8H5

— Eran Segal (@segal_eran) March 14, 2021

The report quoted the officials as saying that if the positive trend continues, Israel will be able to celebrate Pesach without any restrictions.

“The data is very encouraging,” Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said in an interview on Radio 103FM on Sunday morning.

“The miracle that we’ve all been dreaming of is happening – the miracle of vaccines. Over five million people got vaccinated and thanks to that we are where we are. There is no reason to believe there will be any further lockdowns before Pesach.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)