Israel saw a slight drop in the coronavirus infection rate over the weekend, but the number of serious cases and deaths has remained high, health officials reported Sunday.
The Health Ministry said that only 24,781 tests had been conducted on Saturday, with 2,557 returning positive. The figure puts the contagion rate at 11%, a slight decrease from the 15% average the country has seen in recent days.
Since midnight Sunday, 85 people tested positive for the virus, bringing the tally of active patients currently ill with the disease to 70,172. Since the start of the outbreak in Israel, 264,857 people were confirmed to have tested positive at some point.
The number of tests conducted Friday also stood at below 25,000, with 2,557 of them returning positive.
The number of serious cases, however, remained high with 830 patients, of whom 223 are ventilated. The death toll has gone up to 1,682 after more than 100 people passed away over the weekend.
On Thursday 44 patients died from complication related to the virus, the highest single-day death tally recorded in Israel since the start of the outbreak.
On Friday, 25 COVID-19 patients passed away, while on Saturday 22 people succumbed to the disease.