Recovered coronavirus patients in Israel double active cases

Malls and markets resume activities • 191,000 Israelis return home • Pre-schools and daycares to reopen on Sunday

By ROSSELLA TERCATIN
Children at a kindergarten for asylum seekers in south Tel Aviv. (photo credit: UNITAF)
Children at a kindergarten for asylum seekers in south Tel Aviv.
(photo credit: UNITAF)
The number of patients (10,873) who recovered from COVID-19 is more than double the figure of active cases (5,228), the Health Ministry announced on Thursday. Moreover, the country registered just one new death in the previous 24 hours. A total of 240 people in Israel have succumbed to the disease since the beginning of the crisis.
The number of hospitalized patients currently stands at 237, some 83 of whom are in serious condition, including 68 who are intubated.
The steady decline of the infection rate in Israel is therefore confirmed on the day that marks the beginning of the second phase of the country’s exit strategy, with shopping malls, markets and workout centers resuming activity. All facilities have to implement several safety measures, including taking customers’ temperatures and limiting the number who are allowed in.
Meanwhile, outgoing justice minister Amir Ohana announced on Thursday that he was extending the state of court emergency from May 10 until May 17 at the request of the court system, in order to have an additional week to make preparations for holding more hearings under corona conditions.
Since Netanyahu’s trial is set for May 24, it will not be delayed by the extension.
The IDF spokesperson also announced that IDF combat soldiers will be allowed to visit their families in a gradual manner while ensuring each team remains socially isolated from others.  
The new policy will come into effect in the next few days, soldiers will be asked not to engage with people outside their families to reduce risk of infection.
As the next step in Israel’s exit strategy, preschools and daycares are preparing to reopen their doors on Sunday, in a step that is considered essential to allow parents to go back to work and therefore to bring the country’s economy back to full speed.
Following a prolonged discussion held Thursday night, the Finance Ministry reached an understanding with representatives of the various private daycares so that they will return to partial operation as scheduled, while following the Health Ministry’s guidelines regarding the coronavirus.
Within these agreements, preschools and daycares will receive a one-time grant to cover the cost of the new measures that will be put in place due to the coronavirus crisis, with emphasis on limiting the amount of children present and other specific restrictions needed for young children.
The agreements specify that daycares with 7 to 12 children will receive a grant of 350 NIS per child, daycares with 13 to 24 will receive a grant of 700 NIS per child, and those with more than 24 will receive 1,200 NIS per child.
These agreements now include private daycares, which now join previous agreements which dealt with supervised daycares.
However, it is still estimated that 300,000 of children will not be able to return to their facility because of the coronavirus restrictions, channel 12 reported.
Globally, as of Thursday night the number of people infected with the virus stood at about 3.8 million, with 264,022 who died, according Reuters.
The Foreign Ministry has stated that since the beginning of the pandemic, about 191,000 Israelis have returned to Israel from abroad, Ynet reported.
The embassies have issued over 8,500 new passports, mostly at the request of Israelis living abroad who wished to register their children as citizens so that they could fly back to the country.
Yonah Jeremy Bob, Hagay Hacohen and Omri Ron contributed to this report.


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