2 more fatalities take Israel’s COVID-19 death toll to 103; 10,878 infected

174 in serious condition and 123 people on ventilators; Saturday’s deaths include Mazel Dellal, 53, a mother of 9

By ToI Staff 12 April 2020, 8:29 amUpdated at 9:22 am

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Magen David Adom workers move a patient outside the new coronavirus unit at Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem, April 3, 2020. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

The Health Ministry on Sunday morning said two people died of COVID-19 overnight, taking Israel’s death toll to 103.

One of the victims was a 63-year-old man who died at the Baruch Padeh Medical Center in the northern city of Tiberias.

The hospital said the man suffered from underlying health problems. There were no details on his identity.

There was no information on the second fatality.

According to Health Ministry figures Sunday morning, Israel has 10,878 confirmed coronavirus cases, including 174 in serious condition and 123 people on ventilators.

Another 155 people were in moderate condition, the ministry said, with the rest having mild symptoms. Close to 7,000 of those diagnosed with the disease are being treated at home.

As of Sunday morning, 1,388 have recovered from the illness.

Five deaths were reported between Saturday morning and night, including Mazel Dellal, a 53-year-old mother-of-nine from the central city of Beit Shemesh. According to her family, Dellal did not have any underlying health problems.

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)

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, and also note the relatively slow rise in the number of new cases.

But 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)

Several Jerusalem neighborhoods with high coronavirus infection rates will be locked down starting Sunday afternoon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said early Sunday.

The order to close off parts of the capital starting at noon Sunday was approved by the government following an late-night cabinet meeting and days of discussion on how to contain the spread of the virus in the capital.

The mainly ultra-Orthodox Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak, which is the country’s second most infected community (1,761 cases as of Saturday) despite having a far smaller population, has been closed off from the rest of the country for the past 10 days. On Friday restrictions were eased somewhat, with residents allowed to travel outside the city for work and some other essential needs.

More than 100,000 people have died globally of the coronavirus. On Saturday, the US surpassed Italy as the country with the highest death toll from the disease with over 20,000 deaths.