The number of coronavirus patients in serious condition has remained stable since the beginning of the week, the Health Ministry reported Thursday. The booster shot has been 95% effective against infection and 97% effective against serious symptoms after 16 days, it said.
However, seven public hospitals, including Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center and Hadassah-University Medical Center, continued to operate in emergency mode on Thursday, only admitting patients in need of life-saving treatment.
So-called public hospitals are independent organizations that rely mostly on donations, as opposed to facilities directly owned and funded by the state or the health funds.
The public hospitals said they were working in “Shabbat mode” because they have received only NIS 400 million of NIS 630m. that was promised to them to cover costs between January and June. An additional NIS 55m. per month they were supposed to receive in July and August also has not been forthcoming, they said.
Officials from the Health and Finance ministries said they have been monitoring the crisis closely and are committed to resolving it quickly.
The public hospitals, which also include Ma’aynei Hayeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak, Laniado Medical Center in Netanya and three small hospitals in Nazareth, stopped receiving COVID-19 patients on Monday. They are all located in cities classified as red or orange by the Coronavirus Traffic Light System.
Last week, Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash said he hoped the number of patients in serious condition would begin to decline. As of Thursday morning, 680 patients were in serious condition, and there have been between 678 and 699 since Sunday.
Just over half the patients in serious condition have not been vaccinated (349), or were partially vaccinated (15), while the rest have been fully inoculated.
Experts consider the encouraging data to be a result of the booster shots. So far, 5.93 million Israelis have received one shot, 4.59 million have received two, and 1.77 million have received all three.
Over the past few weeks, the vaccination drive has been proceeding faster, with tens of thousands of shots administered per day. The vast majority of them are the booster shots, but several thousand people are also getting their first and second doses.
“Excellent and hopeful data on the third vaccine – 97% efficacy against serious illness, 95% efficacy against infection. Run to get vaccinated!” Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz wrote on Twitter on Wednesday night, sharing a screenshot of the Channel 12 report that appeared to confirm it.
Some 8,800 new cases were registered on Wednesday. On Tuesday, more than 10,000 new coronavirus carriers were identified, something that had occurred only one other time during the darkest period of the third wave in January.
The positivity rate also slightly decreased on Wednesday, from 6.57% to 6.39%.
At least 13 people succumbed to the virus on Wednesday, the Health Ministry reported, bringing the death toll to 6,909 since the coronavirus outbreak.
Since the beginning of August, COVID-19 has claimed more than 400 victims; 52 people died in July, and fewer than 10 died in June.
There were more than 80,000 active cases on Thursday, approaching the record of 88,000 registered during the third wave.
To slow the current outbreak and buy time for more people to get jabbed, the authorities are considering additional restrictions, specifically a cap on general gatherings of 400 people indoors and 500 outdoors, even for venues that operate under the Green Pass system.
The coronavirus cabinet might convene on Sunday to examine the situation ahead of the beginning of the school year on Wednesday.
Maayan Hoffman contributed to this report