In a meeting with the Prime Minister, Meir Ben Shabbat updated him on the state of development of the "Defender 2" application • Minister of Communications Handel proposed a plan to get out of the crisis
The Prime Minister's' Office is holding a discussion today (Wednesday) on the continued use of GSS IDPs, during which the head of the National Security Council, Meir Ben Shabbat, is expected to update participants on the development status of the "Shield 2" application, which is intended to replace GSS IDPs.
Photo: Moshe Ben Simhon
The meeting will also be attended by Defense Minister Bnei Gantz, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, Minister of Intelligence Cohen (who heads the localization examination committee), Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz and Minister of Higher Education Zeev Elkin.
In addition to them, the head of the GSS v. Argaman and senior officials in the Ministry of Justice and the Privacy Protection Authority are also participating in the meeting.
Meanwhile, Communications Minister Joaz Handel presented a seven-step plan to get out of the Corona crisis.
"Enough with the games, sanity is required - for a week now we have been dealing absurdly only with what demonstrations and prayers look like instead of building a strategy to get out of this huge crisis," he said.
In the first step proposed by Handel, the Corona Cabinet will be reduced to only four participants - the prime minister, the deputy prime minister and two other ministers.
According to the second step in the Minister's plan, the discussions on the subject will be filmed and broadcast, with the exception of discussions that will be defined as sensitive, in addition to researching results that will be published once a week.
Enough with the games, sanity is required.
For a week now, we have been absurdly dealing only with what demonstrations and prayers look like, instead of mainly - building a strategy to get out of this huge crisis.
It's time to put an end to this - 7 necessary steps that I will fight in the government >>
- Yoaz Hendel Yoez (@ YoazHendel1) September 30, 2020
In the third step proposed by Handel, the Corona Commissioner and the Corona Cabinet will present disease targets and exit channels for each decision made, and these will be made public.
In addition, the government will report weekly on the progress of virus treatment.
The next step involves the establishment of a "red team" with experts who will examine the work of the Corona cabinet - and even present alternatives to it.
Afterwards, Handel points out that hospital administrators will regularly report bed occupancy and the rate of morbidity in their workplace.
Under the sixth step, the chairman of the opposition and the chairman of the Corona Committee will be invited to receive an update in the Corona Cabinet once a week.
The seventh and final step includes a complete closure that the government will decide on "until the level of morbidity is reduced."
According to Handel, "These measures will remain in force until the level of morbidity is restored to the level of 100 patients per day, and will be reactivated if the morbidity rises above 1,000 patients per day once again."
Ashkenazi: "There was no escape from a full locksmith"
Minister Ashkenazi referred to the national closure, saying that the various restrictions will be removed and the economy will be reopened to activity as soon as possible.
"We are here on complex days when Israel is in a health battle and has to make painful concessions, including relinquishing personal contact with our parents, grandparents," Ashkenazi said at a signing ceremony with the governments of Nepal and Georgia to add nursing staff to care for the elderly and mentally debilitated population:
"The Israeli government has approved a state of emergency and a complete closure, from which there was no escape, knowing full well that these regulations have restrictions that could violate basic fundamental rights," Ashkenazi added.
"The extent of morbidity and the burden on hospitals do not allow us to make other decisions. We must prevent public gatherings in any way in order to regain control of the disease."
4,949 new infections
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health announced today that 4,949 people were diagnosed yesterday as positive for the corona virus out of 34,352 tests performed.
The number of positive tests continues to be high and stands at 15%.
1,589 patients are currently hospitalized in Israeli hospitals.
810 in serious condition, of whom 205 are in respiratory condition and 293 in moderate condition.
The death toll from the onset of the epidemic has risen to 1,547, after another 12 people have died since midnight.
A total of 239,222 infected people have been identified in Israel so far, of whom 64,608 are active patients.
The director general of the Ministry of Health, Prof. Hezi Levy, spoke this morning with the hospital directors and instructed them to open another 1,500 hospital beds. According to the plan, 750 beds will open by October 5 and another 750 will open by the middle of next month, as directed by the Prime Minister Open 1,500 additional beds Prof. Levy defined that 80% of the beds will be for critical and respiratory patients and another 20% for moderate and mild patients.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu will convene the Corona Cabinet today to set a long-term plan to deal with the epidemic.
The prime minister intends to present a three-stage plan according to which the policy will be implemented in the coming months. The first stage is the closure that began on Rosh Hashanah, and he says "it will last a month and maybe much longer."
A report by the National Security Headquarters sent to members of the Corona Cabinet ahead of today's meeting shows that 174 people died this week. This is an average of 25 deaths daily. The number of serious patients stands at a doubling rate of 41 days. The doubling rate is 48 days. From the report that in the last week between 85 and 123 "new" severe patients were added every day and another 24-33 patients in critical condition.
A breakdown of the ages of those infected with the "second wave" shows that 10.8% of them are over the age of 60 (a small percentage compared to their share of the population).
23% of them are 19 to 29, 15% are 13 to 18 and 14% are 30-39.
From this, the National Security Headquarters proposed the following steps: expanding and focusing enforcement (with an emphasis on enclosed spaces and wearing masks), investing in information (allowed and forbidden in quarantine, the importance of wearing masks), preparing to exit quarantine and move to the "traffic light" program.
They also proposed setting indices while improving the amputation of the contagion chains by operating the mission headquarters in PKAR, extracting technological means, investigations, and rapid isolation.
Additional measures include: Implementing the "Protecting Fathers and Mothers" program, protecting at-risk and older populations, building a force to improve the Ministry of Health's capabilities against the dimensions of morbidity for the winter, a combined effort to obtain vaccines, and ongoing economic efforts to compensate affected sectors and populations.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein stated yesterday: "We will come to the Korna Cabinet tomorrow with a gradual exit and the necessary caution. We will not repeat the mistakes - the economy will open carefully. The liberation of the economy and society will be in small portions and the gap between the steps will be two weeks."
And despite the closure, the picture of morbidity in Israel is still difficult.
A report by the IDF Intelligence Division and the National Knowledge Center for Combating Corona presented a disturbing picture, according to which for the first time the death rate in Israel is higher than in the United States and many other countries. Written in the report.
"For the first time, Israel surpasses the United States in the number of deaths per day from Corona in relation to population size."
