Nachman Ash
Nachman AshYonatan Sindel/Flash 90

The director general of the Ministry of Health, Prof. Nachman Ash, admits that bringing back the green pass restrictions will not significantly help reduce the number of cases of COVID-19.

In a recording of a conversation that took place on Tuesday with hospital directors and broadcast on Channel 12 News, Ash was heard saying that further steps would need to be taken to prevent the spread of the virus.

"We need to understand that in ten days we will have double the number of verified cases and double the number of serious and critically ill patients, especially since this increase has begun - so we must be ready now," said Ash.

He added, "We are starting with the green pass on Thursday, but our assessment is that it will not make any dramatic change. It may lower the infection rate a bit but not significantly. We are considering further steps that we will take to the government, but I do not know when and if they will be accepted."

"Another thing we are doing is the matter of the booster vaccine (the third dose), the decision will be made in the coming days and we will set out, as soon as it is decided, to quickly vaccinate the elderly population with first priority," said Prof. Ash.

During the meeting, representatives of the Ministry of Health asked the hospitals to convert internal wards to COVID-19 wards, and the hospitals made it clear that this could lead to a large number of deaths.