16 July 2020; MEMO: Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein announced on Wednesday that Israel needs a miracle to avoid full lockdown to deal with COVID-19, Arab48.com reported.
Arab48.com reported Edelstein stating, according to Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, that he did not know other mechanisms to avoid lockdown, stressing that the threshold of 2,000 infections daily is a “red light”.
Edelstein confirmed that if the daily infection rate continued rising to 2,000 and the dangerous cases reached 30 with an urgent need for ventilators then: “There would be difficult proposals, and traditional services in hospitals would be suspended as everything would be only for COVID-19 patients.”
The Israeli minister posed the question: “What can we do if no miracle takes place and infection rates do not decline?” Then, he explained that if there had been enough time to evaluate whether the partial lockdown was effective, a complete lockdown would be postponed, concluding: “Let’s wait for a couple of days.”
Edelstein rejected approving more restriction measures such as the closures of restaurants and leisure venues to help fight the coronavirus, stating: “I do not believe in the feasibility of restricted lockdown. We are heading for full lockdown if no sharp decline in infection rates takes place.”
He also rejected criticism that his ministry did not adequately exploit the time when infection rates diminished, as well as rejecting the claim that full lockdown is a recognition of failure.
“Full closure could not be a comprehensive solution,” according to Edelstein. “We are no different from any other place in the world.”
