Police have increased activity across Israel, including on highways and intercity roads, in an effort to minimize travel by the public as Independence Day commences in the shadow of the coronavirus.
Police said they set up 40 checkpoints and will be stopping and checking drivers to ensure they are traveling only for reasons defined by the guidelines of the Health Ministry. Similar to how Israelis celebrated the Passover holiday, on Independence Day, people are being asked to stay in their homes.
The decision to close the country on its 72nd birthday came despite increasingly optimistic reports that the coronavirus cases are going down. So far, 210 people have died.d. As of Tuesday night, there were 7,772 active cases of coronavirus in Israel, including 116 people in serious condition, among them 92 intubated.
In total, 15,728 Israelis have been infected.
The condition of the 11-year-old girl who is hospitalized with coronavirus at Rambam Hospital is improving. She entered the hospital in serious condition earlier this week and has now tested negative for COVID-19. Nonetheless, she is still intubated, the hospital said.
The Health Ministry reports that the country's daily testing capacity is rising and could handle as many as 15,000 tests per day. This would be in addition to the 20,000 tests per day that should start soon through the health funds, through a contract with the Chinese company BGI.
There have been a low number of tests in recent days, however. On April 25, 9,031 people were screened and of them 160 found positive; 88 of 8,393 on April 26; and 110 of 9,546 on April 27.