The United States and United Kingdom received information from an Imperial College London coronavirus report that was published on March 16, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Dozens of experts had informed policy makers that modeling showed millions would die and that health systems would be overwhelmed, the report said. A fight against the virus could go on for 18 months, it said.
To mitigate the disaster, new measures would need to go into place immediately and last for months before being relaxed. Life would never be the same, the report said.
This shocking study appears to have caused both President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to shift course and increase testing and measures.
In Israel, the virus threat was taken seriously much earlier, but cases have increased to beyond 500 nevertheless. Israel has more cases per capita than either the UK or US. With a very limited capacity in hospitals, Israel is correctly concerned about what the models produced at the Imperial College and by other experts show.
These models don’t only affect Israel, they affect the entire Middle East. Jordan is closing off roads with the army. The Gulf states are stopping flights. The Kurdistan region of Iraq is under curfew.
The language of the coronavirus crisis, such as “flattening the curve,” concerns of ventilators and intensive-care units and social distancing, are all found in the March 16 study.
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