Inside a fast-filling coronavirus ward in a Tel Aviv hospital, doctors rush to treat critical-care patients amid a surge in new cases that has forced Israel into a second nationwide lockdown, Reuters reported.

Health officials fear that the three-week lockdown, imposed on Friday, may not be long or restrictive enough to slow the daily case toll and relieve hospitals that they warn could soon reach capacity.

Guy Choshen, director of Ichilov's coronavirus ward, said the hospital has begun admitting patients from Jerusalem and districts in northern Israel “because of (their) incapacity to handle this increase in numbers”.