Inside a fast-filling coronavirus ward in a Tel Aviv hospital, doctors rush to treat critical-care patients during a surge in new cases that forced Israel into a second nationwide lockdown.
Health officials fear that the three-week lockdown, imposed last Friday, may not be long or restrictive enough to slow the daily case toll and relieve hospitals that they say could soon reach capacity.
New cases have reached daily highs of more than 5,000 among Israel's nine million population, sharply rebounding from single-digit lows that were recorded after a relatively stricter lockdown from March to May.
On the front lines of Israel's second Covid-19 wave are doctors and nurses working around the clock at Ichilov Hospital, where half of the 60 Covid-19 patients are in serious condition and require ventilation, according to a hospital spokesman.
Guy Chosen, director of Ichilov's coronavirus ward, said the hospital had begun to admit patients from Jerusalem and districts in northern Israel "because of [their] incapacity to handle this increase in numbers".
Dressed head-to-toe in protective gear, nurses on two-hour shifts weaved through the crowded ward to check on patients, separated from one another by glass and metal partitions.
"Right now we are 72 per cent full and every day we have more and more new patients. There's not enough capacity," Ichilov spokesman Avi Shoshan said.
Preparing for what he called "worst-case scenarios", Defence Minister Benny Gantz said on Monday he told the military to be ready to put up a field hospital to relieve the overload.
Some officials support tightening restrictions. While schools have been closed, Israelis are still allowed to travel to work, gather in small groups and attend protests, among a list of other exceptions.
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Coronavirus around the world
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A woman walks past an outdoor photography exhibition on healthcare workers in Melbourne, Australia. EPA -
A heath worker does a round at an intensive care unit designated for people infected with Covid-19 at a hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina. AP Photo -
An employee at Spectrum Solutions assembles Covid-19 saliva test kits in Draper, Utah, USA. AFP -
A vendor stands behind stacks of face masks in boxes for sale in Singapore. AFP -
An elderly man sits on a train in Tokyo, Japan. AFP -
Rafael Juarez rides his bicycle through a street flooded by Tropical Storm Beta as he makes his way home from the store in Galveston, Texas. Houston Chronicle via AP -
Elena Toribio cooks lentils at a soup kitchen of the Nueva Esperanza neighborhood, on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. AP Photo -
The monument of Tezozomoc is seen with a face mask that reads "For My Country" in Mexico City, Mexico. Reuters -
Khusheeba Munir holds the cell phone as her husband Azhar Mahmood, who tested positive for Covid-19 and was not able to attend the marriage, shares a lighter moment with his cousin and groom Haseeb Mushtaq, during a wedding ceremony on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir. AP Photo -
A civic staff in protective suit disinfects the staircase of an apartment in Kolkata, India. AP Photo -
Venezuela's Zulia state contestant Mariangel Villasmil gets ready in the dressing room before a meeting with judges of Miss Venezuela beauty pageant, at the Venevision television station, in Caracas. AFP
