Senior Health Ministry officials are expected to meet Friday morning and discuss the sharp increase in the rate of coronavirus infections over the last few days, Ynet reported Thursday evening.

A woman wears a mask and checks her mobile phone as she stands next to a poster in central Tel Aviv, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions in Israel April 14, 2020 (photo credit: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD)
A woman wears a mask and checks her mobile phone as she stands next to a poster in central Tel Aviv, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions in Israel April 14, 2020 (photo credit: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD)

 

The Health Ministry announced on Thursday night that Israel had 79 new cases of coronavirus. Of the 1,909 Israelis with active cases of the virus, 36 are on ventilators. Additionally, Israel’s death toll rose to 284.

Senior Health Ministry officials are expected to meet Friday morning and discuss the sharp increase in the rate of coronavirus infections over the last few days, Ynet reported Thursday night.

“It was clear to us the rules were not being kept in general, and particularly in schools,” a senior Health Ministry official told Ynet.

Israel began lifting coronavirus restrictions earlier this month.

“We received a lot of joyful news today,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Tuesday night, as the government approved lifting more coronavirus regulations. “Drink a cup of coffee and a beer too,” he encouraged. “Go out and make a living.”

However, the prime minister also warned that if infections rose too quickly, lockdown would once again be enforced.

On Thursday, seven faculty members and 11 students from the Gymnasia Rehavia school in Jerusalem tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Thursday evening, raising the altogether number of positive cases in the school to 18.

The school will be closed past the Shavuot holiday, which begins Thursday evening, and students will return to distance learning online. All of the school attendees, including both students and staff, will be tested for COVID-19 at Hadassah Medical Center Ein Kerem.

A coronavirus testing station will be opened due to the crisis after discussions between Hadassah Medical Center CEO Prof. Zeev Rothstein and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion.

As reported by The Jerusalem Post