Start of the school year: Distance learning in red cities - 7,177 were diagnosed with Corona

The Ministries of Education and Health decided tonight (Monday) to update the outline for the start of the school year in light of the increase in morbidity. Under the new outline, some eighth-twelfth-grade students will begin the school year by distance learning. The decision was made after a heated debate between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett; Minister of Education, Dr. Yifat Shasha-Bitton; And the Minister of Health, Nitzan Horowitz.
According to the new outline, eighth-twelfth graders in red cities will not come to school and will move to distance learning if less than 70% of the students studying in them are vaccinated. This, as a replacement for the previous outline, which made it possible to conduct studies in the classrooms in red communities as well.
According to the previous outline, the school year was supposed to open in all age groups and in all localities in Israel, including the Adumim - but studies in fifth-ninth grades were held in capsules, and in tenth-twelfth grades in capsules in classes where less than 70% of students were vaccinated. According to the current outline, if the morbidity in the locality increases, students in classes where the rate of vaccinators and recoverers is less than 70% will move to distance learning.
Today, the proportion of vaccinated students in tenth-twelfth grades amounts to about 70%, and the middle schools - about 30%.
According to reports from the Ministry of Education, in the last two weeks there has been a 130% jump in morbidity among ultra-Orthodox students, who started the school year about a week ago. The increase in morbidity among the ultra-Orthodox who returned to school is twice as high as the increase in morbidity in the entire education system. Even during the period of study in the schools program of the Great Freedom, there was a jump in morbidity among students, which led to the spread of the variant variant in Israel.
Despite this, until the meeting held today, the Ministry of Education insisted on opening the school year almost as usual, in all localities, and without significant restrictions.
Meanwhile the morbidity expands. 7,177 Israelis were diagnosed at midnight as positive for Corona. This is according to data from the Ministry of Health. This is the highest number of verified since February 8 - then there were 7,843 positive for Corona - but the final number will probably be even higher than this figure. A total of about 120,000 tests were performed at midnight and the positive rate is 6.27% - the highest in recent months.
Data from the Ministry of Health show that 881 corona patients are hospitalized in hospitals across the country, 528 of them in critical condition. This is a slight decrease compared to yesterday. The number of serious patients connected to respirators is 93. Today, eight corona patients died and since the beginning of the month, 209 patients have died in Israel.
Data from the Ministry of Health also show that by the evening hours, about 96,000 vaccine doses had been given. 6,639 Israelis received the first vaccine, 4,424 the second and 85,025 the third. So far, 1,048,767 Israelis have received the third dose of the vaccine - which the FDA will soon approve.
The data also show that 17% of those aged 50 to 59 received the third dose of the vaccine, as did 51.2% of those aged 60 to 69, 68.4% of those aged 70 to 79, 64% of those aged 80 to 89 and 58.7% of those aged 90 and over.
The announcement from the Ministry of Health, after crossing the threshold of one million vaccinated with the third vaccine, states that this is more than half of the vaccinated population - about 1.9 million people aged 50+ who have passed five months since receiving the second vaccine.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said: "We have now reached a million citizens who have taken responsibility for themselves and their environment and have been vaccinated with the third vaccine. This is a wonderful figure and a great achievement, but there is still a lot of work ahead of us. "The citizens of Israel are the first in the world to receive the third vaccine, it is not obvious. Only in this way will we maintain health and livelihood. Anyone who has not yet been vaccinated - go out now to get vaccinated." The World Health Organization has called on countries that have started vaccinating with a third vaccine to stop in the face of the fact that many countries in the world have failed to complete a first and second vaccination.
Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz: "The vaccine is the best means we have to fight the Delta virus, to maintain health, the economy and the routine of life in Israel. We have provided a sufficient supply of vaccines for anyone who can be vaccinated. It's time to use it. "A very nice achievement but not enough. Only if we continue at a high rate of immunization of vaccinators in the third dose and of citizens who have not been vaccinated at all, will we get through the crisis without reaching a closure."