The Health Ministry updated today (Wednesday) that the number of confirmed measles cases in the latest outbreak in Israel has reached approximately 1,880, and officials estimate there are thousands more unreported cases.
As of today, 20 patients are hospitalized in intensive care, and one is connected to an ECMO machine.
Since the beginning of the outbreak, 562 patients have been hospitalized, most of them unvaccinated children. Fifty-three were admitted to intensive care, and seven infants who contracted the disease have died - all of them were not vaccinated against measles. In one case, the illness caused irreversible damage requiring limb amputation.
Efforts to encourage vaccination have succeeded in raising immunization coverage in cities at the center of the outbreak, but levels remain insufficient. In Jerusalem, the vaccination rate rose from 77% to 83%, and in Beit Shemesh from 72% to 82%. Nationally, the vaccination rate increased from 88% to 89%. According to the Health Ministry, the target to prevent an outbreak is 95%.
Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman Tov told reporters: “We are not past the outbreak. We continue to see new patients every day. There are patients in serious condition who could deteriorate. We are still in a danger zone.”