Might ease lockdown when daily COVID-19 cases fall to 1,000: Israel health ministry
Sep 14, 2020
Tel Aviv [Israel], September 14 : Israel Health Ministry on Monday said that the government will consider easing the recently-announced nationwide lockdown when the daily coronavirus case count drops to 1,000.
Health Ministry Director-General Chezy Levy remarks come a day after the government approved the lockdown to begin from Friday for at least three weeks as cases in the country saw a sudden rise.
Israel on Sunday reported new 3,182 coronavirus cases.
"We would like to get to 500 cases a day, but it is clear that at this time that won't happen," The Times of Israel quoted Levy as saying.
"If we see a drop to 1,000 patients, and proper behaviour [from the public], and a downward trend in morbidity, and at the same time stabilization in the hospital system, that will be a positive sign to consider coming out of the lockdown. We will put together criteria in the coming days," he added.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 156,823 people have been diagnosed in Israel with the coronavirus and 115,128 have recovered from COVID-19. The death toll stands at 1,126.
This is the second time the Israeli government had to enforce lockdown in the country in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"For three months, I tried to avoid a lockdown. I did everything so that we could live alongside the coronavirus, with rules here and there," Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. "Under the circumstances that were created, we had no choice," he adds.
According to the latest data by the Johns Hopkins University, 28,841,789 people around the world have tested positive of coronavirus and 921,491 people have succumbed to the disease so far.
