The number of active coronavirus carriers in Israel has exceeded 10,000 for the first time in weeks, the Health Ministry reported Monday evening.
There are currently 10,148 Israelis battling the virus, 260 of them are hospitalized in serious condition and 89 patients are on ventilators, the fewest since the end of July.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic in Israel, 2,865 people have died of complications of COVID-19.
Health authorities conducted some 34,000 coronavirus tests on Monday, 746 of which returned positive, putting the national infection rate at 2.2%.
Jerusalem continues to lead the list of coronavirus hotspots with 1,346 active patients. The capital is then followed by Nazareth with 454 active patients, Haifa with 343, Tel Aviv with 297 and Um al-Fahm with 218 active cases.
Earlier Monday, pharma giant Moderna Inc. said it would ask U.S. and European regulators to allow emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine as new study results confirm the shots offer strong protection.
The company announced about last week its vaccine has shown 94.1% efficacy in preventing coronavirus infection and 100% efficacy in preventing serious illness.
Several hours before Moderna's announcement, Director of the Israel Biological Institute Prof. Shmuel Shapira said that the Israeli vaccine would be ready for use in early summer 2021 and would probably be given in one dose.