Israel on Tuesday morning again reported over 10,000 new coronavirus cases diagnosed the previous day, with a senior health official saying assessments about the fourth infection wave subsiding were premature.
The Health Ministry said 10,556 tested positive for COVID on Monday and with some 178,000 tests conducted, the contagion rate now stands at just under 6%.
Data showed that 54.4% of new cases were among Israelis under the age of 19 and about 3.9% among those aged over 60.
Hospitals said they are currently treating 687 serious patients.
Israel's COVID-19 reproduction number, which spiked over the past few days, rests at 1.01.
Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Nachman Ash said that morbidity during the current infection wave has surpassed all previous records, adding that he expected a sharper decline in cases.
"While last week we saw a clear downward trend, the past days we see a halt - with the R number hovering around 1," he told Knesset's Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee.
Ash said that average new daily infections stand at 8,000, serious cases continuing to number around 700 and patients connected to ventilators also hovering at 190 - unprecedented during the past three waves.
"Looking at the bigger picture, it is impossible to say whether there is a clear halt to the rise in morbidity," he said, adding that he hopes to see a decline soon despite the mass meeting during the Jewish holiday season.