Visiting Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushes back against reports that hospitals are filling with coronavirus patients.
“For now they can handle the serious cases,” he says, pointing to an empty bed behind him.
But he also warns that due to manpower issues, the health system could be overwhelmed in the future.
A suspected coronavirus patient being brought to Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan on July 27, 2020. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash90)
According to Health Ministry data, Soroka is doing pretty well, at 60 percent capacity in its coronavirus ward, with 91 staff members in quarantine.
Four major hospitals are currently over 100 percent capacity, including Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem, which is at 182% capacity and has over 100 staff members in quarantine.
As of Tuesday morning, there were 760 hospitalized coronavirus patients, including 321 in serious condition of whom 97 are on ventilators.
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