Israel on Wednesday morning reported that 7,737 new coronavirus cases were diagnosed the previous day, while a slight drop has been recorded in the number of serious and ventilated COVID-19 patients.
The Health Ministry said 83,367 tests were conducted on Tuesday, putting the national contagion rate to 9.6%.
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A coronavirus ward at Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein Karem Medical Center
(Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Out of 76,708 patients currently battling the disease, 1,141 are in serious condition, of whom 311 are connected to ventilators. The death toll since the start of the pandemic rose to 4,513.
In addition, over 2.7 million Israelis have already received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine and about 1.3 million have received the second booster shot. These figures constitute 30% and 15% of Israel's population, respectively.
So far, 63.5% of Israelis aged 90 and over have received both doses, 61.9% of Israelis aged 80-89 have received both shots, 90.9% of Israelis aged 70-79 and 73.6% of Israelis aged 60-69.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein told Knesset's Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee that Israel has not seen a single serious case of COVID-19 among the those who have received both doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.
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Health Minister Yuli Edelstein speaking to Knesset's Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee Tuesday
(Photo: Knesset Channel)
Edelstein said 0.014% of the roughly half a million people who have received both vaccine doses had contracted milder forms of COVID-19, reinforcing preliminary results published by Maccabi health fund that showed that only 20 people out of some 128,600 who received both shots have since been infected with the pathogen, though none became even moderately ill.
The minister also said that 80% of at-risk Israelis have been vaccinated, with 252,000 waiting to be inoculated.