In public warning, Health Ministry director says infection rate rose to 6%

Health Ministry director Chezy Levy warns that Israel is in the midst of a growing wave of infections, with the number of seriously ill patients climbing to 183 — 54 of whom are on ventilators.

Since midnight, there have been 932 new confirmed cases, he says during a press conference at the Health Ministry.

He says his office has increased testing to 27,000-28,000 a day, but it has still resulted in a roughly 6% infection rate.

“I am worried about the increase in numbers, and I am not sure we all understand just how significant the increase has been,” he says.

Levy says he regrets the decision by the Knesset’s Coronavirus Committee to reverse the government’s shuttering of gyms and pools, adding that he will work to limit its scope as much as possible.

The Health Ministry director says he’s still working to appoint a “coronavirus commander” to lead the government’s effort to combat the pandemic but that talks with former Central Command head Roni Numa ended with no agreement.

“We need to understand the degree of infection we’re currently seeing. When there was a recurrence in other countries their government ordered shutdowns. We want to avoid having to do that,” he says.