Amid mounting calls for Israel’s government to appoint a dedicated coronavirus response coordinator, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has named a public health professional to the post, his office said Thursday.
It said in a statement that the job went to Ronnie Gamzu, CEO of Tel Aviv’s Sourasky medical complex.
“Professor Gamzu has many years of administrative experience in the health field, including previous service as health ministry director-general,” it added.
Public confidence in the government has been dented by a recent wave of contradictory emergency decrees opening, closing and reopening amenities, such as restaurants, public beaches and gyms.
Protests against economic fallout from the pandemic have spread across the country, with demonstrations outside Netanyahu’s official Jerusalem residence becoming a regular event.
After his government curbed flights and imposed lockdown measures in March, Israel briefly reduced its daily tally of newly confirmed cases to single digits in early May, but in recent weeks new cases have regularly topped 1,000 per day, with a spike of 2,000 on Tuesday.
Netanyahu took responsibility for the hasty re-opening of Israel’s economy between late April and June – measures widely seen as triggering the resurgence in cases.
The country of some nine million people had recorded over 56,000 confirmed cases by Wednesday evening, including 430 deaths.