The Health Ministry said on Wednesday morning that 9,539 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed on Tuesday after 165,584 tests conducted indicating a 5.9% infection rate.
Israel's rate of contagion continued to rise, and the R factor was 1.06.
According to the ministry, 40% of newly confirmed cases were in children under the age of 11 - who are too young to receive the coronavirus vaccine, 14% were ages 12 to 18 and only 4% of the cases that were confirmed on Tuesday were among the over 60 population.
There are currently 650 people hospitalized in serious condition with complications of the virus, 172 of them on ventilators.
Among those hospitalized are 424 patients who had not been vaccinated at all, 144 who had received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 56 who had been given three doses.
The ministry said that 67 of those suffering from serious complications of COVID-19 were under the age of 40 and all but three of them had not been vaccinated. The three remaining patients had been given two doses of the vaccine.
The IDF unit attached to the Health Ministry in the fight against the pandemic said in its daily report that although contagion dropped slightly, it was expected to rise during the holidays because of people's participation in crowded events and are less inclined to get tested.
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Ultra-Orthodox men pray at the Western wall on Tuesday ahead of Yom Kippur
(Photo: Amit Shabi)
The report also notes that a lower number of positive tests will not be an indication of less infection, but rather of fewer tests conducted and the true picture of morbidity in Israel will only emerge after the holidays are over.
Since the start of the pandemic 7,444 people have succumbed to the virus.
First published: 12:30, 09.15.21