Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructs the Health Ministry to prepare the healthcare system to handle as many as 5,000 seriously ill coronavirus patients at a time.
The figure suggests there is no clear sign that the steep rise in the infection rate is slowing or reversing.
There are 821 virus patients currently hospitalized in serious condition.
The prime minister wants hospitals prepared for up to 1,500 patients immediately, 3,200 by mid-October and 5,000 by November, according to Channel 12.
While health officials have for months cited 800 seriously ill coronavirus patients as the maximum the healthcare system can handle, hospitals have been steadily expanding their coronavirus wards and training staff to prepare for higher numbers.
Discover Israel's most beloved poet
She died more than four decades ago, but Leah Goldberg remains a magnetic and enigmatic figure: Israel’s most beloved poet, a powerful woman who lived with her mother and never married, who reinvented herself from the ashes of World War I through her magical writing.
You can screen 'The Five Houses of Leah Goldberg' June 4-11. Join The Times of Israel Community today to support our work and watch this and other outstanding documentary films in our DocuNation series.
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