Health Ministry calls emergency meeting of epidemic team as flu infections spike

The Health Ministry’s Epidemic Control Team called an emergency meeting as flu infections have spiked and three children have died of the illness in recent weeks, Hebrew media report.

By contrast, four children died during all of last year’s flu season, the publications report.

The incidence of the flu in Israel this year is five times greater than during the same period last year, Channel 13 reports, citing figures from Maccabi Healthcare Services.

The Kan public broadcaster, meanwhile, reports that 30 children have been put in intensive care in recent weeks due to flu complications. Half of the children hospitalized across the country have tested positive for the flu, the network reports.

Over the past day, two babies were hospitalized in critical condition in Jerusalem, while another in serious condition in Haifa was put on life support, Kan says.

According to Channel 13, less than 15 percent of the Health Ministry’s target figure for vaccinations has been hit so far this season. Kan reports that those numbers include less than half of those over 65 and just 10% of children, populations considered particularly vulnerable to infection.

Two of the children who died of the flu over the past two weeks had not received flu vaccinations, while one had.

Kan reports that steps being weighed by the epidemic committee include further promotion of vaccines, encouraging masks in medical facilities and public spaces, and a public awareness campaign calling on adults to stay home from work and children to stay home from school if sick with the flu.