Israel now again stands on the verge of 2,000 new daily coronavirus cases as the officials on Thursday posted 1,828 diagnoses, which had been confirmed the previous day.
The Health Ministry said 73,146 COVID-19 tests were conducted on Wednesday, putting the contagion rate at 2.5%.
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Tel Aviv Municipality conducts coronavirus tests across local schools
(Photo: Motti Kimchi )
At least 318 patients are in serious condition, of whom 100 are ventilated. The official death toll now stands at 2,934.
The ministry said the northern city of Kiryat Bialik and the Arab-Israeli village of Abu Gosh, near Jerusalem, have now been designated as "red" indicating high infection rate. Among other municipalities that are now considered red are: Jadeidi-Makr, Zemer, Ilut and Peki'in.
There is some encouraging news, however, as the Arab town of Ar'ara turned from red to orange and the central city of Ramat Hasharon went from orange to yellow. The municipalities of Oranit, Yavne, Yehud, Netivot and Ramat Yishai turned from yellow to green.
In the meantime, the government is set to reconvene later in the day to finally approve partial nighttime lockdowns across Jewish municipalities for the duration of the holiday of Hanukkah, and across Christian localities for the holiday of Christmas.
If approved, all movement between cities and trade will cease operating at 5:30pm, although Finance Minister Israel Katz set demand for the hour to be moved to 6:30pm or 7pm.