The infection rate of the Omicron variant of the new coronavirus, which causes the disease covid-19, is steadily increasing in Israel – nearly 3,000 new positive results for the second day in a row, representing a maximum of three months – and experts from the Israeli Ministry of Health are studying a policy shift to achieve mass immunity Through mass casualties this variant, according to the Hebrew press published today.
The positivity rate in the country rose to 2.48% and the infection rate – the average number of people infected with each carrier of the virus – rose to 1.53, indicating that the outbreak is increasing.
However, the increase in the number of infected does not translate into an increase in serious cases of covid-19 or hospitalizations, with only 88 serious cases across the country, numbers that remain stable compared to the past few weeks.
The strategy of “mass infection” was what Sweden pursued in the first phase of the epidemic, when it decided not to impose strict restrictions on people who did not belong to the risk groups, in an attempt to continue a normal life and achieve immunity from the group.
But this strategy, implemented before vaccines were available and when the coronavirus was more deadly, was seen as a failure and forced the country to change course.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Monday that Israel was on the brink of “a storm of infections whose magnitude has not yet been demonstrated” and warned that “many people will be infected” with the new type without further restrictions. Ban it.
Israel is among the countries with the highest vaccination rates and is already conducting clinical trials to test the efficacy of the fourth dose of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine against covid-19 in 6,000 people, including 150 health professionals.
The first study of its kind in the world is being conducted in coordination with the Israeli Ministry of Health, which is awaiting results to start giving the fourth dose to the population over the age of 60 who suffer from immune and health problems. The health sector, as recommended last week by the panel of experts advising the government on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Covid-19 virus has killed more than 5.40 million people worldwide since the start of the pandemic, according to the latest report from Agence France-Presse.
The respiratory disease is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which was discovered in late 2019 in Wuhan, central China, and currently with variants identified in several countries.
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