Israel on Monday saw only 5,616 new daily coronavirus cases diagnosed a day earlier, but a staggering 9.1% infection rate, health officials said.
Over the past week the country saw an average of some 9,000 daily COVID-19 cases but the contagion rate remained somewhat lower. The extraordinary high infection rate might stem from limited testing conducted over the weekend.
The Health Ministry said that on Sunday they conducted 63,516 coronavirus tests, much lower than the same figure reported over the past few days. The ministry added 1,130 patients are hospitalized in serious condition, of whom 273 are ventilated.
Five more patients passed away since midnight Monday, bringing the official death toll to 4,005 people. On Sunday alone, 24 patients lost their battle with the disease. Since the start of January, 661 patients have passed away, the highest the figure has been since October.
There are 80,436 active patients, currently ill with the disease, in Israel. At least 15,582 of them live in Jerusalem, 4,844 in Bnei Brak, 3,198 in Modi'in Illit, 2,369 in Beit Shemesh, 2,327 in Petah Tikva, 2,187 in Tel Aviv, 1,871 in Haifa, 1,834 in Ashdod, 1,575 in Beitar Illit, 1,442 in Elad, 1,366 in Netanya, 1,237 in Rishon LeTsiyon, 1,171 in Holon, 1,134 in Be'er Sheva, 1,057 in Nazareth, 916 in Rehovot, 862 in Ashkelon, 826 in Ramla, 775 in Ramat Gan, 754 in Bat Yam, 734 in Kiryat Gat, 720 in Lod, 553 in Rosh HaAyin, 516 in Safed and 508 in Modi'in Maccabim Reut.
In the meantime, the Health Ministry said that 2,116,257 Israelis have received the first vaccine shot since the start of the inoculation campaign and 309,065 have already been given the second. This means that 23.81% of Israelis have received the first vaccine jab and 3.48% already have been given the second.