The Health Ministry on Thursday said 2,004 new coronavirus cases were confirmed on Wednesday but the amount of patients on ventilators was still on the rise with a record breaking 253 in the past 24 hours.
The number of seriously ill has dropped by nearly 200 over the past few days to 734 and the death toll stands on 2,099 since the start of the pandemic.
According to the ministry, positivity rates of the 37,230 tests conducted on Wednesday have dropped to 5.3% but that was due to many tests conducted in retirement homes as part of a national survey, where virus cases are few.
There are currently 43,939 people battling COVID-19 with Jerusalem leading the country with 5,162 active cases followed by Bnei Brak with 3,715.
Israel has been under lockdown since mid-September and the so-called coronavirus cabinet is set to convene later in the day to discuss and exit strategy and the lifting of some restrictions including opening kindergartens and schools for grades one and two as well as allowing some small businesses to reopen.
According to the Health Ministry's recommendations, restrictions were to remain in place until less than new cases were confirmed over a period of a few days and the R factor showing contagion in the population, remained lower than 0.8.
On Thursday, coronavirus czar Professor Ronni Gamzu said that though it appears Israel has reached its targeted reduction in cases, those figures must be monitored for at least one week.
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Businesses out of business in Jerusalem as result of the coronavirus mitigation efforts
(Photo: Amit Shabi)
"We appear to be reaching our goals and would be able to begin lifting some restrictions next week," he told Army Radio in an interview.
First published: 09:40, 10.15.20