The Health Ministry on Wednesday said that 9,025 new coronavirus cases had been confirmed in the previous 24 hours. This is the second straight day that daily cases in Israel have surpassed 9,000.
After 127,768 tests were conducted, the positivity rate stood at 7.2%.
There are currently 1,042 people in serious condition being treated in hospitals, with 262 of them on ventilators.
Since the start of the pandemic, 3,770 Israelis succumbed to the virus. On Tuesday alone, 26 people died from complications of COVID-19, and 99 have succumbed to the disease since the beginning of January.
In December, 428 people died from COVID-19 and in November, 313 people succumbed to the virus.
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Chevra kadisha workers in protective gear prepare for the Jewish burial of people who died of COVID-19 at Holon cemetery on Tuesday
(Photo: EPA)
Israel currently has 78,215 active cases of COVID-19, with ultra-Orthdodox areas showing the highest infection rates.
The highest number of cases is in Jerusalem, where 15,491 people were battling the virus, followed by Bnei Brak with 4,178 cases, Modi'in Illit with 3,214 cases and Beit Shemesh with 2,416.
Tel Aviv had 2,164 active coronavirus cases as of Wednesday morning.
Due to the high number of cases and the amount of seriously ill in hospitals, the Health Ministry said it would request a one-week extension of the strict lockdown that has been in effect since Thursday and was expected to last for two weeks.
The ministry is also said to be preparing an exit strategy for the lockdown that will include three phases. First to reopen would be educational institutions while restaurants and gyms would only resume operations only in the final phase.
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Medical teams receiving their second dose of the coronavirus vaccine earlier this week in Tel Aviv
(Photo: Moti Kimchi)
Meanwhile, the country's internationally praised vaccine campaign was continuing at full speed.
As of Tuesday, 1,880,163 people had already received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
According to health officials, data collected from the over-60s who were the first group to be inoculated showed the risk of contagion dropped just 14 days after receiving the first shot in the two-stage vaccine.