The coronavirus infection rate in Israel is among the highest in the world and morbidity in the Arab sector is a "disaster," coronavirus czar Prof. Ronni Gamzu said Tuesday.
He said that many Arab communities are seeing widespread infection and warned the rate of infection is also rising again in ultra-Orthodox areas.
"The heads of the Arab local authorities see it, feel very, very uncomfortable, because this thing creates circles of contagion," Gamzu said.
"We are suddenly seeing an increase [in infections] in Haifa. I want to make sure that this is not a situation we cannot control. I urge members of the Arab community and its leaders to act. This is a disaster," he said.
"This is an increase that has led to us having more than 500 new patients [in the Arab sector] every day," he said, adding that that almost one third of the entire sector would soon be infected.
Gamzu also expressed concern over the increase in cases in the ultra-Orthodox sector.
"After a period of calm, I have seen an increase in recent days. This is worrying," he said.
He said that while the sector's academic institutions had resumed studies, there was not yet a government decision regarding school closures in "red" communities that have a high infection rate.
"The yeshiva students returned in capsules, which is a better plan than them being at home," he said.
Despite his gloomy description of the spread of the virus, Gamzu stressed that efforts are being made to avoid closures and called for local authorities to institute their own measures to counter the spread of the disease.
"This is the only way," he said. "Everyone is talking about closure, but my method is not closure - it is to build management infrastructure, to manage it within the local authorities. There is no other way. We have no way of lowering sudden morbidity."
Gamzu also reiterated his opposition to the plan for 80 flights to leave Israel for the Ukrainian city of Uman, where Hasidic Jews have an annual pilgrimage on Rish Hashanah to the grave of their movement's founder
"My firm opinion is no. I have said it several times and I do not want to repeat this story. I will not change my mind," he said. "I do not want to have a closure. Our increase per capita is one of the highest in the world."