Senior officials in Israel's four health funds warned professionals in the Health Ministry that the coronavirus testing system is not handling the overload, Calcalist reported.
In a meeting held this week between senior health fund officials and Health Ministry Director-General Professor Hezi Levi, the health funds' professionals explained that they are unable to conduct astronomical numbers of tests the way they did last week, when over 24,000 tests were conducted daily.
As a result, the Health Ministry is expected to clarify the criteria for testing and change some of the guidelines. One of the most significant changes will be reducing general practitioners' ability to refer patients for coronavirus tests.
In addition, the Ministry is expected to significantly reduce the number of tests performed in schools. Another option is not to test coronavirus patients who may have recovered, instead preferring to wait a few weeks until all symptoms disappear.
Currently, anyone who has a high fever, cough, or breathing difficulties can be tested for coronavirus, as can those who are living with a confirmed coronavirus patient and those who are asymptomatic but who were in close contact with a coronavirus patient.