Outgoing Health Minister Yaakov Litzman says the government may have gone too far at times in its response to the coronavirus.
“I don’t know many sick people there at the moment, but the number is low and we’re getting out of it. We succeeded, in large part because of quarantines and warnings — maybe too strong — but we did good things,” Litzman says at a ceremony as he is replaced as health minister by Yuli Edelstein.
The comments came a day after Litzman, who himself was infected with COVID-19 and accused of flouting his own ministry’s regulations, said the director-general of the Health Ministry’s warnings about the virus were “exaggerated.”
At the ceremony, Bar Siman-Tov praised Litzman for his leadership of the Health Ministry, which he has been de facto head of for much of the past decade, while warning that Israel cannot let up in the fight against the virus
“We can’t stop the fight against the virus for a moment,” he says.
In his remarks, Edelstein vows “we’ll invest all resources” to prepare for a potential second wave.
New Health Minister Yuli Edelstein (L) and outgoing Health Minister Yaakov Litzman at a passing of the baton ceremony at the Health Ministry on May 18, 2020. (Health Ministry)
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