The Israeli head of the World Medical Association said Thursday that another nationwide lockdown would be the government's admission that it has failed in the battle against coronavirus.
The Health Ministry earlier reported a record 1,758 new COVID-19 cases in just 24 hours, putting the infection rate at a staggering 7%. The coronavirus cabinet is set to convene later in the day to approve a host of new restrictions on movement in an attempt to curb the surge in cases.
Professor Leonid Eidelman told Ynet there is "no doubt" that another lockdown would be an admission of failure. "There is no other way to interpret it," he said.
"Let's say we impose a nationwide lockdown today, it means the government has failed [to curb the virus] since the beginning of June," he said. "At first there was mass hysteria, then they [the government] said: go out, live your life, we defeated the virus."
He said when the first wave of COVID-19 subsided in late May, the government "just wasted time," failing to staff hospitals with more nurses and doctors and were unprepared when the second wave hit.
"We warned the disease would return ... it was a matter of time."
Eidelman also urged people to cool their enthusiasm when it comes to expecting coronavirus vaccine in the near future.
"Everyday somebody tells us a vaccine is close," he said. "There are over 120 companies working on a vaccine, two of them have come far, but there is still a very long way to go."
He said people who are not part of scientific research don't understand the complexities involved in developing a vaccine.
"They announced in May that in July they would recruit hundreds of patients [to trial the vaccine], and they have not done it so far. There will be no vaccine tomorrow. A vaccine will also not be available in October," he said.
"In the meantime, one should act responsibly and not pin all hopes on vaccines."