“It is too early to say” if the country will require a lockdown through the month of September and during the upcoming Jewish holiday season, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said Sunday morning shortly after he received the country’s first official rapid antigen coronavirus test.
Horowitz was screened at a Magen David Adom clinic in Jerusalem to kick-off the program that is meant to enable the Green Pass program for entering public events on the same day that 348 patients were listed in serious condition by the Health Ministry - almost 100 more people than were listed on Friday.
The tests are performed like the standard PCR test, meaning they require a swab of the nostril. However, they are developed within 15 minutes and the results are delivered to individuals via a personal text message.
If the test is positive, the individual is required to enter isolation and take a PCR test. The test costs NIS 52. For children under 12 the test is free.
Unlike a PCR test, the rapid test only allows entry for 24 hours and then has to be repeated.
There are 120 rapid testing complexes across Israel. To make an appointment, call *3101. The list of centers can be found online at https://www.mdais.org/101/stopcoronavirus.
“We talked about rapid tests for a year and now we have them,” Horowitz said. “Today we are breaking out the infrastructure that will allow us to live alongside the coronavirus.”
Rapid tests are also being offered at 10 Super-Pharm branches throughout the country by Ichilov Well. The tests are approved by the Health Ministry and will cost NIS 59.90 or 51.90 for Super-Pharm members.
The pharmacy chain said it plans to expand its network of rapid testing sites in the coming days.The word “lockdown” came up more than once during the briefing with Horowitz insisting that a closure is a “last resort” and that it is “too early to say” if the country will require a closure.
“A lockdown is a very difficult step with impact on the economy and society, so I do not accept the arguments that a decision should be made on a lockdown right now,” Horowitz said, “A lockdown is a last resort and as long as there is a chance to avoid it, we will do everything possible" to prevent it.
He added that this is also the case with opening the country's schools. Whatever the government can do to enable the schools to open on time, will be done, he said, noting that this is even the case when there are only three-and-a-half days of learning before Rosh Hashanah starts.
The Private Day Care Forum has called on Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Horowitz to develop an outline that will allow private day cares to operate more consistently and effectively in the shadow of the virus.
According to the forum, some 1,500 preschools have closed permanently and another 1,000 have closed for short windows when children were discovered infected with the virus.
“These closures have a double impact,” the forum said in a statement. “They impair the toddlers’ education and impair their parents ability to go to work.”
The Health, Defense and Education Ministries - together with the Home Front Command - this week launched a program to provide green passes to ultra-Orthodox children who recovered from the coronavirus and still have neutralizing antibodies.
Children in several haredi cities - Elad, Bnei Brak, Modi'in-Illit and Beit Shemesh - will be screened via a serological test. Those who qualify will get a pass.
According to the health minister, the previous government wasted NIS 200 billion on lockdowns.
“We have the opportunity sums that are a lot smaller now to avoid big economic damage after,” he said.
Horowitz called the Delta variant a “new disease” that the whole world is fighting.
There were 2,866 cases diagnosed on Shabbat, the Health Ministry reported Sunday morning. Some 3.83% of the people screened tested positive. Some 6,535 people have died since the start of the pandemic - around 25 people since Thursday morning.
The solution to stopping a lockdown is first and foremost getting the 1.1 million people who have not yet been inoculated to the vaccination complexes.
The health minister once again called on these people to get the jab, and said in response to a question from The Jerusalem Post that the Health Ministry is working closely with local authorities to push vaccination among their constituents.
“It is happening in a lot of places,” Horowitz said, noting that there is a “race” between the local authorities to get the most residents vaccinated.
The ministry has also launched a race between haredi schools in which they are providing incentives to encourage students to vaccinate.
The authorities have also been worried about the low vaccination rate in the Arab sector.
On Sunday, Bennett appealed to the community, asking those over 60 eligible for a third shot to get one and individuals who have not been inoculated yet to do so.
“Your life and the lives of your family members are very important to me,” he said. “Unfortunately, the immunization rate in the Arab society is too low. I hereby call on anyone over the age of 60 to go and get vaccinated with the third vaccine.”
“I call on young people who have not been vaccinated at all, and there are many - go out today to get vaccinated,” he added. “This way you will not be infected and will not infect. It will save the lives of your loved ones.”