Israel’s Health Ministry said on Wednesday that it had probably undercounted—by as many as 53 people—the fatalities among nursing-home residents due to the coronavirus in July and August.
An explanation for the discrepancy, according to the ministry, is that various private nursing homes in the country report their data separately.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, who only took office on May 17, said he was taking the matter “very seriously” and had instructed his staff to undertake a thorough investigation.
Edelstein promised the public that “the investigation would be transparent and its results shared.”
The ministry said it would look into any other possible cases of underreporting, although it claimed that none was found in the mortality data before July.
Prior to the discovery of the data error, Israel’s death toll stood at 719, although that number climbed to 789 as of Thursday afternoon after the error correction.
As of Thursday afternoon, there were 27,522 active cases of the coronavirus across the country, according to ministry data. There were 403 people in serious condition, 110 of whom were on respirators.
Assaf Golan and Ariel Kahana contributed to this report.
A version of this article first appeared in Israel Hayom.
