Omicron: Isolation of infected people was shortened to 5 days - 443 are in serious condition

Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz decided to shorten the isolation to five days with the encouragement of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Following the announcement of the shortening of the isolation to five days, some members of the epidemic treatment team of the Ministry of Health sharply criticized the decision. The reason: Contrary to the decision to shorten the isolation to seven days discussed by the team after data was presented and a vote was taken, Minister Horowitz and senior officials of his ministry including Director General of the Ministry of Health Prof. Nachman Ash and Head of Public Health Dr. Sharon Elrai Price promoted the move without the team.
According to the decision made, verified will have to be asymptomatic and get two negative results of home tests on the fourth and fifth day of isolation to finish it. Non-vaccinated exposed to the verified will complete five days of isolation and will be required for an institutional antigen test with a negative result. Also, recoverers will not need a doctor’s permit to be released from isolation.
According to Corona projector Prof. Salman Zarka in a media briefing, about 85 percent of those verified are no longer contagious on Thursday. That is, about 15 percent are contagious. However, it should be emphasized that the decisions of the IDF are recommendations and not binding decisions and that in any case the person in charge of setting the policy and approving or rejecting the recommendations is Prof. Ash.
The move to shorten the isolation was formed due to the pressures exerted by some of the ministers at the last cabinet meeting, who also sought powers to dismiss vital workers. "We must stop dragging our feet," said Agriculture Minister Oded Forer and Minister Orna Barbibai, and Shasha Bitton joined in. Bennett agreed with them and said that the shortening of isolation would be examined all the time. The epidemic treatment team preferred to say they were not consulted and bypassed them. However, it should be noted that in the United States the isolations were abolished about two weeks ago and the Israeli teams play ego games and oppose the intentions of the Ministry of Health.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister said today after the decision that "the State of Israel is now facing the peak of the disease of the omicron wave. Therefore we see many verified and many isolated, and this creates a heavy burden on the economy. Therefore, I made a decision together with the Minister of Health, Health "To shorten the days of isolation from 7 days of isolation to 5 days of isolation. This decision will allow, on the one hand, to continue to maintain public health, and on the other hand, it will be difficult, but to sustain the economy during this period."
The Ministry of Health's information office for the fight against the corona virus stated: "Not all decisions are based on ZTM discussions. The consideration for the change is not purely medical, but is based on the need for continued economic activity. "

The number of patients diagnosed in the past day is 33,622 and this is a continuous decrease in the number of patients. The positive test rate is 11.75%. The number of patients with a serious condition remains stable - 447. In the past day, 43 corona patients have died. The coefficient of infection continues to decline and is now 1.61.