Two more people have died in Israel as a result of the coronavirus, the Health Ministry said Monday, raising the death toll by two since the evening before and putting it at 51.
It was not immediately clear who the latest victims were or where they had been hospitalized, although the Yitzhak Shamir Medical Center in Be’er Yaakov near tel Aviv announced there had been three fatalities at the hospital in the past 24 hours.
In addition, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 8,611, up only 181 from the evening tally a day earlier, continuing a slowdown that has largely been attributed to ongoing social distancing.
There are 141 patients in serious condition, including 107 on ventilators, and a further 191 in moderate condition. The ministry said 585 patients had recovered from the virus.
A top medical expert said Sunday that a slowing of the rise in the number of cases in the past few days was encouraging: New cases had been doubling every six days until recently, he said, and now only every 11 days.
Experts are also pointing to the relatively slow rise in the number of patients on ventilators as a source of potential encouragement.
Putting a dent in the optimism, health officials are projecting that Israel will not be able to test more than 10,000 people a day for the novel coronavirus in the next few days, far short of the government’s goal, because of a shortage of a key reagent.
Still, officials said Sunday that Israel was looking at solutions — including local production of the reagent — that could boost the testing up to 10,000 people a day and beyond.
Four Israelis died of COVID-19 Sunday: an 84-year-old woman from the Mishan nursing home in Beersheba, the sixth fatality from the assisted living facility, and a 63-year-old man, 61-year-old woman and 98-year-old woman, all said to have had underlying health issues.
In figures released Sunday, the ministry said the highest number of cases across the country was recorded in Jerusalem (1,302), followed by the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak (1,214) and Tel Aviv-Jaffa (359). Bnei Brak, one-quarter the size of the capital by population, was closed off by police on Friday morning to stem the outbreak.
Ministers were set Monday to rule on enforcing a tighter closure over eight cities and 15 ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods in Jerusalem to stem the coronavirus outbreak.
The cities set to be included in the decision are Tiberias, Elad, Migdal Haemek, Beitar Illit, Ashkelon, Or Yehuda, Modiin Illit, and parts of Beit Shemesh.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said Sunday that the government was considering imposing a general lockdown over all of the country ahead of Passover, when officials are concerned Israelis will flout the rules in order to hold Seder meals with family.
Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman-Tov struck a cautiously optimistic note on Saturday, following reports that officials believe the current rate of infection in the country is rising at a relatively controlled rate and shows signs of remaining within levels that the health system can handle.
“The fact that we are holding discussions about an exit strategy from the crisis is a privilege,” he said.
Prof. Gabi Barbash, the former director general of the Health Ministry, similarly said the overall situation in Israel’s battle against the coronavirus “is much better” than it was. “We’ve gone down from a doubling of new cases every six days to a doubling every 11 days,” he explained Sunday on Channel 12.
That was “despite what’s been happening” in Bnei Brak and other hard-hit areas, he clarified, and was “thanks to the closures… I hope people will maintain” the stay-home discipline, he said.
The concern is to avoid another rise because of Passover, he added. If the numbers stay like this, “This gives the authorities a much better starting point,” he said, to consider easing some of the restrictions after Passover.
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