Health Ministry data published Thursday evening showed that 220 Israelis succumbed to COVID-19 since the beginning of the week, 14 of them on Thursday alone, catapulting the national coronavirus death toll to 4,232 fatalities.
Health authorities also reported 4,914 new cases of coronavirus out of some 55,000 tests conducted in the previous 24 hours, meaning 9% of all tests came back positive.
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Health workers tending to COVID-19 patient at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera
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There were 1,156 Israelis hospitalized in serious condition with COVID-19, 315 of them were on ventilators.
In addition, over 2.4 million Israelis have already received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine and about 800,000 have received the second booster shot. These figures constitute 27% and 9% of Israel's population, respectively.
So far, 38.8% of Israelis aged 90 and over received both doses, 39.1% of Israelis aged 80 to 89, 46.9% of Israelis aged 70 to 79 and 32.6% of Israelis aged 60 to 69.
In an attempt to prevent the waste of vaccines nearing their expiration date, the ministry also reported that 1.8% of those between the ages of 16 and 19 have received the first COVID-19 shot and 0.2% have received the booster shot.
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Health worker administers 2nd COVID-19 shot to senior citizens at a nursing home in Herzliya
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Israel Prison Service announced Thursday evening that it finished vaccinating the country's inmate population
According to a statement, about 73% of prisoners were vaccinated against COVID-19, while the rest refused to receive the shot.
Earlier on Thursday, the government said that the estimated COVID-19 reproduction number in Israel has dipped below 1 for the first time since the country launched the world's fastest vaccination drive, suggesting the pandemic may be starting to recede,
An "R" number above 1 indicates infections will grow at an exponential rate, while below 1 point to their eventual halt.
In an interview with Channel 13, Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kisch credited the lockdown and the vaccines for the reduction in morbidity.