There Is A Delta Variant, Israel Changes Its Strategy Of Living With COVID-19

JAKARTA - Four weeks ago, Israel celebrated the return of normal life in its battle against COVID-19. The speed with which vaccination efforts have been able to reduce cases of infection and death from COVID-19 has resulted in the removal of masks and no more social distancing.

Recently, a more contagious Delta variant emerged and caused a spike in new infections, forcing PM Naftali Bennett to re-impose some COVID-19 restrictions, as well as reorganize the policies taken.

Israel also chose a policy of its citizens learning to live with the virus, involving as few restrictions as possible, avoiding a fourth lockdown that could harm the country's economy.

Under what he calls a policy of "soft repression", the government wants Israelis to learn to live with the virus - involving as few restrictions as possible and avoiding a fourth nationwide lockdown that could harm the economy further.

As most Israelis in at-risk groups have now received the COVID-19 vaccine, PM Bennett is counting on fewer people than before falling seriously ill as infections rose.

"Implementing the strategy will require taking certain risks but in overall considerations, including economic factors, this is a necessary balance," Bennett said last week, citing Reuters Tuesday, July 13.

The main indicator guiding this step is the number of severe COVID-19 cases in hospitals, of which there are currently around 45. Implementation will require monitoring of infections, encouraging vaccinations, rapid testing, and information campaigns on face masks.

The strategy has drawn comparisons with the UK government's plans to reopen the UK economy from lockdown, although Israel is in the process of restoring some restrictions, while London is lifting restrictions.

Restrictions that have been restored include mandatory wearing of face masks indoors and quarantine for everyone arriving in Israel. Bennett's strategy, like that of the British government, has been questioned by some scientists.

Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of public health at Israel's Health Ministry, told Kan Radio on Sunday that the Israeli Ministry of Health was advocating for more push to contain infections.

"There probably won't be a huge increase in people who are seriously ill, but the price of making such a mistake is what worries us," he said.

However, many other scientists support it.

"I strongly support the Israeli approach," said Nadav Davidovitch, director of the school of public health at Israel's Ben Gurion University, describing it as a 'golden path' between the UK's easing of restrictions and countries like Australia taking tougher action.

Israel last went into lockdown in December last year, about a week after the start of one of the world's fastest vaccination programmes.

Meanwhile, currently new daily COVID-19 infections have reached around 450 cases. The Delta variant, which was first identified in India, now accounts for about 90 per cent of cases.

"We estimate that we will not reach a high wave of severe cases as in the previous wave," said Health Ministry Director General Nachman Ash last week.

"But if we see that the number and increase in severe cases are endangering the (health) system, then we have to take further steps," he said.

Separately, Ran Balicer, chair of the government's panel of experts on COVID-19, said Israel had on average about five severe cases of the virus and one death per day in the past week, after two weeks without any COVID-19-related deaths.

Noting the impact of the Delta variant, he said the panel advised caution over removing restrictions.

"We don't have enough data from our local outbreak to be able to accurately predict what will happen if we release it," Balicer said.

Meanwhile, to date only about 60 percent of Israel's 9.3 million population have received a dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine. On Sunday, the government began offering a third shot to people with compromised immune systems.

Several studies have shown, although high, the effectiveness of Pfizer's vaccine against the Delta variant is lower than that of other types of coronavirus. This is why Pfizer is proposing a third dose of injection to US (FDA) and European (EMA) regulators six months after vaccination to prevent an increased risk of infection.

Israeli authorities are in no rush to approve booster doses, saying there is no data yet to show such doses are needed. In addition, the authorities are also considering allowing children under 12 years of age to receive the vaccine on a case-by-case basis, if their health conditions require the vaccine.

To note, before there was a Delta variant, Israel had estimated 75 percent of the population would need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, to stop the spread of the disease. The current threshold estimate is 80 percent.

"The virus won't stop. It evolves, that's its nature. But our nature is to survive," said Dr Gadi Segal, head of the coronavirus ward at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv.