Israel on Tuesday saw over 8,000 new daily coronavirus cases diagnosed a day prior, the highest the figure has been since September 30.
The Health Ministry said 8,308 people tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday after 110,813 coronavirus tests had been conducted, bringing the positive rate to 7.7%.
There are 1,361 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 764 of them said to be in serious condition, with 183 on ventilators. Since the start of the pandemic, 3,445 Israelis have succumbed to the virus, 98 in the past four days alone, indicating an average of 25 deaths per day.
The Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, a suburb of Tel Aviv, on Tuesday announced it was unable to accept new patients suffering with the virus. The hospital received patients from retirement homes and geriatric facilities in recent days and claimed its coronavirus wards were full.
There are 55,312 Israelis battling the virus, with Jerusalem leading the country with 10,761 active cases. The predominately ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak is second with 2,466 coronavirus patients, followed by Tel Aviv that has 1,614 confirmed cases.
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Ultra-Orthodox line up to receive the coronavirus vaccine in Jerusalem last week
(Photo: Absolute Productions)
Beitar Illit, another ultra-Orthodox city, has nearly 1,000 of its residents ill with the virus, indicating 26% positive rate. Other Haredi communities also appear to have high infection rates. In Elad, 19% of all tests returned positive and in Modi'in Illit, 16% of tests were positive. For comparison, in Tel Aviv only 4% of all tests were positive.
In the meantime, the Health Ministry set to hold an urgent meeting later in the morning to discuss the continuing rise in cases, while the government is set to meet in the afternoon to the tightening of the current lockdown that may include shuttering schools.