Because the coronavirus numbers are continuing to improve, weeks after the country started to significantly ease restrictions, Israel might be really ready to leave the pandemic behind, as it gets ready for a period of religious and national holidays. In striking contrast to last year, its citizens will be able to celebrate them, mostly under the green passport outline.
On Wednesday, the Health Ministry published detailed guidelines for the upcoming holidays.
According to the guidelines, while general gatherings are limited to 20 indoors and 50 outdoors, worship places and ceremonies organized for green passport holders will be able to see the participation of several thousands of people.
In accordance to what the government decided last week, outdoor venues with fewer than 10,000 seats can host up to 75% of maximum permitted capacity, up to 3,000 people. Those with more than 10,000 seats will be able to accommodate guests up to 30% of capacity, up to 5,000 people. Indoor venues with fewer than 5,000 seats will be open up to 75% of their capacity, up to 1,000 people and those with more than 5,000 seats up to 30% maximum permitted capacity and 3,000 people.
Events for the national holidays of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Memorial Day and Independence Day will also be organized under the green pass outline. Events where food is served, considered to be a high risk of infection, will be limited to 300 indoors and 500 outdoors.
For Memorial Day, families of fallen soldiers will have unlimited access to the cemeteries, which will function under “purple ribbon” standards.
Children who cannot be vaccinated will be able to receive a temporary green passport by undergoing a fast coronavirus test.
Only 679 new coronavirus cases were reported on Tuesday, according to a Wednesday report by the Health Ministry – less than half of a week before when some 1,563 newly infected people were identified, and less than a quarter of the week before that, when there were 3,120.
The number of daily cases is not the only index that is experiencing a dramatic decrease. The rate of tests returning a positive result has been steadily under 2% for days, while the R rate – or reproduction rate, measuring how many people each virus carrier infects on average – stood at 0.59, the lowest in months. When the R rate is below 0.8, the disease is deemed to be receding.
In addition, the number of patients in serious condition stood at 483 on Wednesday. There were 573 a week earlier and 673 two weeks earlier. In the past, health officials suggested that Israel’s health system could handle some 800 serious patients without compromising the quality of the care. In January, at the peak of the third wave in the country, there were more than 1,200 people seriously ill.
Election Day also offered proof of how fast the situation is improving. The authorities were ready to handle some 12,000 infected eligible voters, and another 39,000 in isolation, but only 6,700 infected and 22,000 isolated citizens came to vote.
“We made sure that everyone who wanted to vote would be able to do so,” Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said Tuesday while visiting a special corona polling station. “I’m happy that there are not so many voters here because there are not many sick people in general.”
Experts and authorities agree that the success of the vaccination campaign has been the key to taming the virus.
Israel has vaccinated some 5.2 million people with the first dose, including 4.6 million who have already received both shots. Only a million eligible Israelis remain to be inoculated.