Maj. Gen. Roni Noma, who is coordinating the fight against the Coronavirus in the haredi sector, called on the public to stop attempting to be 'clever' and to abide by the lockdown rules: "There is now an opportunity to reduce morbidity."
In a briefing to reporters, Noma said that "until a week ago, the haredim were below average in severely ill patients who die, now it has risen to as many as the average."
According to him, the feeling that there are thousands of yeshiva students who are sick with coronavirus who are just walking around the community is incorrect. "We did a lot of testing so there is an increase in morbidity."
"The number of verified people in the haredi community is more than 21,000. The hotel shortage is real. More than 5,000 people in the haredi community have evacuated to hotels so far," Noma said.
When asked if there is a phenomenon of people deliberately becoming infected in order to be evacuated to a coronavirus hotel, Noma said that he "does not know the scope. It should be condemned. Our mechanisms allow us to locate people who do not need to be evacuated to a hotel."
Noma conveyed a clear message to the public: " There is a lockdown. I ask the haredi public and the general public in Israel not to try to be clever. There is now an opportunity to reduce the disease, it should be taken and exhausted as much as possible."