The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Israel rose to 12,758, the Health Ministry announced Thursday evening.
181 patients are in serious condition, with 137 on ventilators. The death toll currently stands at 142. 2,818 patients have recovered from the virus so far.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu held a meeting Thursday with the Cabinet ministers and health officials and experts to discuss the government's exit strategy for the coronavirus crisis.
The Prime Minister noted in the preliminary discussions that the plan must be gradual and responsible.
At the meeting, the relevant officials presented the strategy drawn up following a lengthy discussion and the broad-based work of all government ministries and expert teams.
Defense Minister Naftali Bennett participated in the government's debate on the exit strategy, and presented his position on managing the coronavirus crisis, with an emphasis on opening the economy as soon as the growth curve is leveled.
The Minister presented a mathematical model that draws on conversations with epidemiologists and experts from the Hebrew University, and is based on the daily growth rate in the number of new patients.
According to the model, the economy can and should be opened as soon as the new rate of new respiratory growth is slow, which is the only reliable figure in the absence of a mass testing system.