Yuli Edelstein
Yuli EdelsteinYonatan Sindel/Flash90

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) on Thursday morning held a briefing at the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, during which he warned that "the wave of infection refuses to drop."

As a result of the consistently-high infection rates, Edelstein said that exiting the lockdown at this point in time would be "a free for all."

"The Health Ministry and the healthcare system are doing everything possible in order to put the brakes on infection rates," he said, noting that "the effort is a tremendous effort and is happening on several fronts."

"On the one hand, we are conducting an unprecedented vaccination program, unlike anything in the world. I myself am having a hard time believing it: 1.5 million Israelis are fully vaccinated with two doses. But at the same time we see a wave of infections which refuses to let up."

Edelstein estimated that the reason for the current wave is the mutation, which has caused the numbers to continue rising despite the lockdown.

"We aren't seeing the same drop we're used to seeing after two weeks of lockdown the previous times. There is a stop [to the rise] and maybe the tiny start of a drop, but it's not the same fall-off, the same huge drop that we are used to seeing," he emphasized.

"In the hospitals, the situation is very difficult. It's a situation the likes of which have not been seen since this crisis began," he said, adding that there are "over 1,100 seriously ill coronavirus patients, of them hundreds in critical condition, on ventilators and undergoing some sort of additional treatment."

Health Ministry Director-General Professor Hezi Levi noted: "The [average] age of the seriously ill patients is getting younger. The staff in the hospitals are tired and are fighting to provide the best treatment possible. As of today, there are 1,800 hospitalized coronavirus patients; 1,200 are in serious condition, and 320 are on ventilators."