The number of people in Israel who have died after contracting the Covid-19 coronavirus rose to 71 this morning, the Ministry of Health has announced. Twenty of the fatalities from the coronavirus have occurred over the past 48 hours. While the number of new people testing positive for the virus is slowing, the number of fatalities is rising faster.
There are now 9,404 confirmed cases of the virus in Israel, of which 147 are described as severe, with 122 of these patients connected to ventilators. 801 people who were hospitalized have recovered from the disease and have been discharged.
Among those who died overnight was 97 year-old Shimon Reinzilber, a Polish-born Holocaust survivor whose son Yaakov was killed when serving in the IDF when he trod on a mine in 1969. Reinzilber becomes the tenth resident of the Mishan assisted living facility in Beersheva to die of the virus.
Israel went into lockdown yesterday afternoon with police preventing travel between cities. From tonight at 6pm, the first night of Passover and the traditional seder meal, a curfew will be in force with Israelis not allowed to leave their homes until tomorrow morning.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 8, 2020
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2020