After weeks of continuous decline, Israel's COVID-19 reproduction number returned to climb in recent days and has reached 0.86, the Coronavirus National Information and Knowledge Center reported on Tuesday, raising concerns of resurging spread of the disease just days before the holiday of Purim.
A reproduction number, or R number, higher than 1 indicates infections will grow at an exponential rate, while below 1 point to their eventual halt.
According to data, 4,677 new cases of coronavirus have been detected out of some 69,000 tests conducted on Monday, meaning 7% of tests yielded a positive result, topping the 6.5% weekly average.
Of all new coronavirus patients, 77% are under the age of 39, and only 6.2% are over 60.