Medical workers at the coronavirus unit in Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak, Israel, prepare a return to other types of procedures as cases of new infection are decreasing, April 27, 2020. Photo: Nati Shohat / Flash90.

i24 News – Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned on Saturday that Israel would face “tough days” ahead in the face of a surge in coronavirus cases, while pushing back on calls for further containment to stem growing morbidity.

“Our goal is simple: to preserve the health of the citizens of Israel, but also the economic future of the State of Israel,” he said.

The prime minister warned of “difficult days” ahead, but said: “I am sure that if we act according to the plan, and if the citizens of Israel wear masks, get vaccinated as soon as it is possible for them, and if we act in solidarity and mutual aid, we will overcome the Delta variant.”

For nearly five days, the number of daily cases has approached 6,000, figures that have not been recorded since February.

According to Channel 12, Health Ministry officials warned at a meeting on Friday that the country could experience some 10,000 daily cases next week.

Faced with the increase in the number of hospitalizations, the Shamir Medical Center in Be’er Ya’akov has stopped receiving new patients, its coronavirus rooms being full, Channel 13 reported on Saturday.

The channel said new Covid-19 patients requiring hospitalization were diverted from overcrowded central Israel hospitals to less crowded hospitals in Jerusalem.

Health officials reportedly showed Bennett figures on Wednesday that predict that, within a month, 4,800 coronavirus patients could be hospitalized, half of them in serious condition.