The Health Ministry on Thursday reported that more than 13,000 new coronavirus cases have been detected over the previous 24 hours, marking the fourth day in a row with over 10,000 new daily cases.
A total of 13,603 Israelis have tested positive for the pathogen out of about 71,300 tests carried out on Wednesday, pegging the country's positivity rate at 19%.
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Lines stretching outside a coronavirus testing site, at Habima Theater Square, Tel Aviv
(Photo: Motti Kimchi)
The virus' R number — which gauges secondary infections from a single COVID patient — continued its steady climb of the past two weeks and stood at 1.42, indicating that the pandemic was once again spreading nationwide.
Meanwhile, the number of patients hospitalized in serious condition with COVID-19-related complications remained stable and stood at 301, with 130 of them being connected to ventilators.
Since the beginning of the week, 122 new patients have been admitted to the hospital in critical condition, 30 of them on Wednesday alone while at least 7 patients succumbed to the disease this week.
Unlike previous waves of infections, Israel is not seeing a sharp rise in the number of infections, in part due to Israelis preferring to take a home test instead of arriving at testing sites. This reduces workload at testing facilities while artificially inflating infection rates among those who do choose to get tested at recognized testing hubs.
In total, the number of daily tests carried out rose by 50% compared to the same time last week while daily cases skyrocketed 100%. However, some test results are reported at a later date due to backlog.
The number of active cases nationwide, most of which are suffering from mild symptoms only, continues to rise and stood at 66,821. Tel Aviv saw an 85% jump in active cases within a week, Jerusalem 93%, Rishon Lezion 109%, Haifa 82%, and Be'er Sheva 88%.
The Health Ministry reported that the coronavirus positivity rate over the last week stood at 17% in Tel Aviv, 9% in Jerusalem, 19% in Rishon Lezion, 17% in Haifa, 19% in Be'er Sheva.
The number of active cases in Tel Aviv stood at 6,004, 3,083 in Jerusalem, 2,608 in Rishon Lezion, 2,555 in Haifa, and 2,138 in Be'er Sheva.