Israel’s coronavirus death toll rises to 123, with 12,046 infected

The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic in Israel rose to 123 on Tuesday evening with more than 12,000 infected, the Health Ministry said.

Among the latest fatalities were an 86-year-old woman who succumbed to the virus at Ramat Gan’s Sheba Medical Center and an 81-year-old man who died at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.

A 71-year-old resident of a nursing home in Tiberias died due to complications from the coronavirus, the Baruch Padeh Medical Center in the northern city announced Tuesday, adding that she suffered from preexisting conditions.

In Jerusalem, a 78-year-old man died at the Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem and a man, 90, died at Shaare Zedek Medical Center.

The updated ministry figures of 12,046 infections across the country represented a rise of 3.94% in 24 hours. The ministry said 175 people were in serious condition, 133 of them on ventilators. Another 177 were in moderate condition, with the vast majority displaying mild symptoms.

The ministry said 2,195 have recovered from the virus.

Earlier Tuesday, the ministry said 9,459 coronavirus tests were administered between Sunday at midnight and Monday at midnight, marking a significant rise in testing but still falling short of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stated goal of 30,000 daily tests.

Israel on Tuesday evening went into nationwide lockdown for the end of the Passover holiday and the Mimouna festival, which will see intercity travel banned and bakeries shuttered until Thursday morning, to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

The country’s health czar on Sunday evening warned Israelis against backsliding on their practice of social distancing and adherence to quarantine restrictions, saying the coronavirus could come back with a vengeance.

“I understand it’s hard to stay at home for so long, and the public is proving its ability to keep to the regulations and protect everyone’s families,” Health Ministry director Moshe Bar Siman-Tov said in a statement.

Israeli health officials were 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 ventilators 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.

More than 119,000 people have died globally of the coronavirus.