Israel shutters remaining COVID hospital wards as infection rate continues to drop
Designated hospital wards in Hadera, Tiberias and Safed were the last to close down this week
More encouraging signs that the coronavirus pandemic is significantly on the wane in Israel was revealed Tuesday as the last few remaining hospitals with designated COVID wards announced they would close them.
Two of Israel's hospitals - Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera and Baruch Padeh Medical Center in Tiberias - had remained the only two that were still operating. However, the remaining patients have been moved for treatment to internal medicine wards according to Israeli outlet Ynet.
At the peak of the pandemic, Hadera's hospital operated three dedicated COVID wards, but over the past few days there have been no more than seven patients - on average - needing treatment.
"I am pleased to announce we are closing down the last active COVID ward," the hospital director, Dr Mickey Dudkiewicz, said. "We will now be able to allocate staff to deal with the increasing needs of our internal medicine departments, which remained understaffed because of the pandemic," he said.
On Sunday, Safed's Ziv Medical Center, which is the main hospital for the Galilee region, announced that after some 400 days of operation it was shuttering its COVID ward. "We've waited for this moment for over a year. I am happy that we are returning to our normal routine and that our fight against the coronavirus was successful," Prof Salman Zarka, the hospital's chief said, reported Ynet.
Currently, there are approximately 300 people hospitalized in the country with the disease; 187 of them in serious condition and 113 requiring the use of ventilators.