Israel’s virus death toll rises to 96, with 10,525 confirmed infected

Health Ministry revises figures from Saturday morning, saying there was one fatality; 180 people in serious condition with 132 patients on ventilators

By ToI Staff 11 April 2020, 10:23 amUpdated at 2:51 pm

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Magen David Adom workers wearing protective clothing with a patient with suspected coronavirus at Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem on April 10, 2020 (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

The Health Ministry announced on Saturday afternoon that one person had died of COVID-19, taking Israel’s death toll to 96 from the coronavirus.

In a statement, the ministry said figures published earlier in the day had been incorrect and that 10,525 people have been confirmed infected with the coronavirus in Israel, an increase of 117 since the evening before. The ministry did not say how many tests had been carried out or processed in that time.

Of those cases, 180 were in serious condition with 132 people on ventilators. The ministry’s earlier figures had given a higher, incorrect number, for those in serious condition.

Another 153 people were in moderate condition, the ministry said Saturday, with the rest having mild symptoms. As of Saturday, 1,258 have recovered from the illness.

Magen David Adom medical team members, wearing protective gear, handle a coronavirus test sample at a drive-through site in Tel Aviv, March 22, 2020. (Flash90)

By Friday evening there were nine new deaths reported by the Health Ministry over the previous 24 hours.

Israeli health officials are expecting a surge in coronavirus deaths in the next 10 days, according to a Friday report.

The rise in deaths does not signify an increase in infections, however. Patients who are already hospitalized and on respirators are likely to succumb to the virus in the coming days, according to predictive models from the Health Ministry, Channel 13 reported.

Almost all of those who have died from COVID-19 in Israel have been elderly and suffered from preexisting conditions, according to hospital officials. The novel coronavirus has been spreading quickly in nursing homes around the country, raising intense concern for the safety of elderly residents.

Experts have pointed to the relatively slow rise in the number of patients on ventilators as a source of potential encouragement.

But putting a dent in the optimism, health officials are projecting that Israel will fall short of testing 10,000 people a day for the coronavirus in the immediate term because of a shortage of a key reagent.

Police officers at a temporary checkpoint near the Old City in Jerusalem on April 10, 2020 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

A national lockdown barring intercity travel came into effect Tuesday ahead of the Passover holiday and was lifted Friday morning. Separately, a curfew was maintained over the first night of the holiday on Wednesday, to prevent further spread of the virus, and lifted at 7 a.m. on Thursday morning.

More than 100,000 people have died globally of the coronavirus.