Police enforcing lockdown in haredi neighborhood
Police enforcing lockdown in haredi neighborhoodYonatan Sindel, Flash 90

According to Health Ministry data, the mortality rate from coronavirus-related complications in the haredi community currently stands at 12%, while 16% of fatalities have been from Arab communities. Among hospitalized patients in serious condition, 15% have been from the haredi community and 24% from the Arab community.

According to figures recently published in Kan News, haredim currently make up 12% of the Israeli population while Arabs account for another 21%. Experts in public health have stated that given that the haredi community is relatively young in comparison to the general population (due to the high birth rate), they would have expected their number of deaths due to coronavirus to be lower than their share of the population. According to them, only three percent of haredim are in the 65+ age bracket, the segment of the population most susceptible to coronavirus complications.

Meanwhile, Professor Ronit Kaldron-Margalit, a public health expert at Hebrew University, told Reshet Kan Bet that according to her estimations, the fatality rate in the haredi community is three times higher than their share of the population, apparently based on the same figure of three percent of haredim being in the "elderly" category.

Data from the Health Ministry published on Wednesday morning show that 4,673 people were diagnosed as coronavirus carriers in the last day, out of 46,932 tests conducted. There are currently 855 people in serious condition in the country’s hospitals, of whom 223 are on ventilators. The death toll since the outbreak of the epidemic now stands at 1,803 people. 215,181 people have made a full recovery and there are 61,606 active cases of the virus in the country.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that, “We are now seeing the first signs that permit us cautious optimism regarding stemming the epidemic. However, it’s still too early to state this conclusively. All the experts without exception have said that we should wait at least a week to ease the lockdown, and that’s what we’re going to do. We will emerge from lockdown in a gradual and responsible manner.”

He added that, “Following the first wave of the virus, we had a united government and a general public that listened to guidelines. In order to succeed after this second wave, I need to see the same thing – a united government and a public that follows the rules.”

Referring to spikes in coronavirus cases abroad, Netanyahu said that, “Right now, Europe is headed for a second lockdown. If we get this right, we will ease our second lockdown and emerge in a better position that European countries, so please – follow the guidelines and I call on all members of the government and the coalition to unite behind me.”