The Health Ministry reported Tuesday morning that 1,875 Israelis have tested positive for coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the highest number of daily virus diagnoses since July 29.
Health authorities conducted 27,985 tests on Monday – 6.7% of which yielded a positive result, a slight increase in the national daily coronavirus infection rate compared to recent days.
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Health worker holding coronavirus tests at Maccabi Health Services' laboratory in Rehovot
(Photo: AFP)
The number of severe COVID-19 patients dropped to 417 after reaching 419 on Monday - the highest such figure since the onset of the pandemic in Israel earlier in the year.
The death toll for COVID-19 in Israel now stands at 856, an increase of seven since midnight.
These figures raise concerns that the opening of the school year on September 1 may be disrupted. The National Security Council had set a goal earlier in August to reduce the number of daily infections to around 400.
Israel detected on Monday 1,511 new cases of coronavirus outside of areas considered to be virus hotspots, a long haul from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's goal to reduce new daily infections to 100 in order to roll back some of the restrictions on the economy.
The so-called coronavirus cabinet Monday evening extended restrictions on gatherings as part of the measures to stave off the spread of the pathogen.
The regulations will be in effect until August 31, unless decided otherwise by Knesset's Constitution Committee.