The fall in the number of Israelis testing positive for Covid-19 is continuing. Yesterday (Wednesday) 1,994 people tested positive for the virus, down from 2,285 on Tuesday and 3,124 on Monday.
There was a 5.4% positive rate for tests undertaken yesterday. Only 37,000 tests were carried out yesterday and in recent days both the number of tests and percentage of positive results has been gradually falling reflecting a slowdown in the spread of infection.
Israel has for the first time since the lockdown was imposed last month reached the threshold of 2,000 below which the Ministry of Health requires to be met before relaxations to the lockdown can be introduced. The relaxations include the opening of businesses that do not receive the public, the resumption of early childhood education and take away services at restaurants.
The number of seriously ill Covid-19 patients hospitalized has fallen to 734 from 855 last week.
Israel's National Coronavirus Project Coordinator Prof. Ronni Gamzu told Army Radio, "We have reached the target for exiting the lockdown. At the moment we have 2,000 positive tests per day and an infection r rate down to 0.8. I will recommend going for the first relaxations next week."
According to Prof. Eran Segal of the Weizmann Institute of Science who is monitoring morbidity, over the past week the number of positive test results has fallen by 53% nationwide. The number of seriously and moderately ill patients has fallen by 23% nationwide including by 40% in the Arab community and by 5% in the haredi community.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 15, 2020
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