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On Saturday evening, the health ministry said 1,027 new coronavirus cases had been confirmed the previous day, a further sign that the spread of the virus in Israel was accelerating.
It was the third consecutive day that new infections per day exceeded 1,000, after staying below that milestone for over a month.
With another 315 cases registered up to Saturday afternoon, the number of infections since the start of the pandemic has been 334,626, of which 9,924 are active cases.
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The death toll rose from six to 2,845.
According to the ministry, there were 276 people in serious condition, including 107 on ventilators. Another 75 people were in moderate condition, and the rest had mild or no symptoms.
Of the 47,402 tests carried out on Friday, 2.2% were positive. 8,938 tests have been conducted so far Saturday, 3.5% of which are positive.
Top health officials have warned of rising morbidity, even as the government continues to lift lockdown restrictions.
On November 19, 2020, healthcare workers take virus test samples at a testing site near Eilat. (Flash90)
Also on Saturday, 10 employees of the Isrotel Dead Sea hotel confirmed they had the coronavirus.
The Ministry of Health said the 10 kitchen and service workers were asymptomatic and were tested as part of a sample testing program for employees at area hotels. The contract tracers were talking to the hotel workers and employees they were tested last day and will be tested again in the next few days, according to the ministry.
Hotels in Eilat and the Dead Sea were cleared to reopen earlier this month after legislation was passed designating them as “special tourist islands,” with tourists required to present a negative coronavirus result no more. 72 hours prior to their entry into those areas.
“During a meeting held by the Director General of the Ministry of Health, it was decided to suspend the operations of the Isrotel Dead Sea Hotel until the required tests are completed,” a statement from the ministry said.
Anyone who had stayed at the hotel since November 22 was invited to undergo tests for the coronavirus.
Isrotel said the hotel will reopen on Monday after a “thorough and thorough disinfection” and that new workers will be introduced after being tested.
Tourism Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen denied that the positive test results showed that the “island” scheme was flawed.
“Quite the opposite.” wrote on Twitter. “It shows that the mechanism is supervised and managed thanks to frequent tests and inspections. All hotel workers have already been tested and the hotel has been disinfected. “
Hotel in Ein Bokek, along the shore of the Dead Sea. (Mendy Hechtman / Flash90)
Separately, new coronavirus czar Nachman Ash visited the northern cities of Nazareth and Yafa an-Naseriyye on Saturday, both of which have recently seen a spate of infections.
“Our goal is for the Nazareth area to be green for the [Christian] holidays, ”he said in a video statement, referring to the Ministry of Health’s color coding for locations with low infection rates.
His visit came as blockade measures located in Yafa an-Naseriyye and Umm al-Fahm took effect after their approval by ministers on Friday.
Ash also addressed the reopening of 15 shopping malls across the country on Friday as part of a plan to assess their compliance with social distancing guidelines. The openings attracted large crowds of shoppers who waited in line to enter the stores.
People shop at Ayalon Mall in Ramat Gan after reopening November 27, 2020 (Avshalom Saxons / Flash90)
“What we saw in the photos yesterday is very serious and could lead to infections,” Ash said. “I hope we don’t have to shut down this pilot because of these images.”
He called on the mall operators “to act responsibly” and prevent crowding.
The comments came after Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said Friday that he had instructed Ash and Chezy Levy, the director general of the Ministry of Health, to meet on Saturday evening after the “severe crowding in malls … and at the light of the growing morbidity figures “.
Officials will present their findings to him earlier this week and Edelstein will formulate his position, the statement added.
“I’m really worried that this is another problem that could increase morbidity,” Levy said in an interview with Kan news on Friday. “We will have to think about whether to continue the pilot and how.”
Shopping malls have been closed – with the exception of some essential stores within them, such as pharmacies or food vendors – since mid-September under lockdown rules. Street shops were allowed to reopen earlier this month, with a limit on the number of customers, which was raised from four to 10 on Wednesday.
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