PM to hold meeting as officials warn of new COVID wave, say 5th dose may be needed

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is set to hold a meeting with health officials on Wednesday as coronavirus czar Salman Zarka said Israel appears to be at the start of a new wave of virus infections.

“Unfortunately, it seems we are starting a new coronavirus wave in Israel — the BA.5 [variant] wave,” Zarka told a medical conference on Wednesday.

The Omicron BA.5 subvariant was one of the strains responsible for the latest surge of infections in South Africa.

Zarka also said that health officials would weigh the possibility of recommending a fifth dose of the vaccine to some segments of the population.

Zarka is spearheading the national response to the pandemic, although last month he returned to his job as director of the Ziv Medical Center in Safed amid declining cases.

According to Channel 13 news, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz held a meeting with officials on Tuesday evening to discuss the rising case numbers.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in a press conference at the Health Ministry, November 26, 2021. Seated (from left): Corona czar Salman Zarka; Head of Public Health Services Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis; Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, and Health Ministry Director General Nahman Ash (Kobi Gideon / GPO)

The report said it was decided that it would be recommended for the elderly and people at risk to wear masks indoors. The ministry is also planning to restart its public information campaign on the pandemic.

Health officials are set to hold a discussion on Thursday to examine the possibility of recommending a fifth dose of the vaccine, according to the report. It’s believed that many people may have reduced immunity due to the time elapsed since they were vaccinated or contracted the virus.

Zarka said recently that by September or October, Israel’s population will be largely unprotected.

Last week, Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash spoke of the “dilemma” posed by the prospect of conducting a possible fifth round of COVID-19 vaccinations before winter.

“It will be a big challenge to convince people to take a fifth vaccination, and that will influence the decision,” he said.

Israel has largely dropped all its coronavirus restrictions, with the exception of isolation for those who test positive and a mask requirement in medical settings.

Health officials in recent weeks held discussions on dropping the isolation requirement. However, according to a report by the Kan public broadcaster on Wednesday, talks on the matter will be paused if cases continue to rise.

A 95-year-old woman receives a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a health center in Rehovot, January 10, 2022. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

According to Health Ministry data released Wednesday morning, 4,585 people were diagnosed with the coronavirus a day earlier, taking the number of confirmed active cases to 19,221.

Demonstrating the rise in new cases, four Knesset lawmakers announced they have tested positive for the virus in recent days.

The transmission rate reached 1.19 on Wednesday morning. The figure measures how many people each coronavirus carrier infects on average, with any reading above 1 meaning the spread of COVID-19 is increasing. It first began to rise above 1 in mid-May, having stayed below the threshold for nearly two months.

There were 22,501 tests carried out on Tuesday — far fewer than in previous waves. Of those tests, 20.38 percent returned a positive result.

There were 89 patients in serious condition, of whom 21 were defined as critical. The confirmed death toll since the start of the pandemic reached 10,867.

In Israel, 6,710,075 million people have had a least two vaccination shots, while 4,495,077 million have had three, and 813,632 have had four.

A healthcare worker takes a nasal swab sample at a COVID-19 testing center, in the Palestine Medical Complex, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, March 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Meanwhile, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have yet to record a significant rise in coronavirus cases.

Just 132 confirmed active infections were present in Palestinian areas as of Wednesday, according to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry. However, Palestinian coronavirus testing has often lagged well behind the spread of the virus.

According to the PA Health Ministry, 582,495 Palestinians have been infected with the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic; 5,356 have died.

Aaron Boxerman contributed to this report.