Some senior health officials are pushing for a general lockdown, especially during the upcoming holiday period, Yediot Aharonot reported.
Dr. Erez Birnbaum, CEO of the Assuta Ashdod Medical Center, said, "The new wave isn't stopping and there's no drop [in numbers]. In light of the numbers, it would very responsible to consider a lockdown."
"The goal is not to reach the winter with 800 seriously ill patients, but rather only a few hundred."
Dr. Zeev Feldman, director of the Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Sheba Medical Center and chairman of the Organization for State Doctors, said: "This virus is very difficult, if you don't keep the rules. If the numbers continue to rise, there will be no other option other than to consider a lockdown."
However, other senior officials see things differently.
"A general lockdown is good for a situation in which things can be finished in one shot," explained Professor Yaniv Sharar, director of the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon. "Without a change in our basic management of the situation, as a society, the reality won't change."
Meanwhile, coronavirus czar Professor Ronni Gamzu said he does not intend to take extreme measures to combat morbidity, but warned of the rising infection rates, emphasizing that "our rise per capita is one of the highest in the world."