Israel on Tuesday again reported a new record number of single-day COVID-19 cases, with nearly 38,000 new infections, as the Omicron variant continues to rapidly spread across the country.
The Health Ministry said 37,887 tested positive for coronavirus on Monday after 332,993 tests were conducted, putting the infection rate at 11.38%.
Since the start of January, 190,147 Israelis have been confirmed to be infected with the virus - over 2% of the country's population.
Data showed that there are currently over 185,750 active patients (one out of every 51 Israelis), with most of them coming from "red" local authorities -communities with high coronavirus morbidity.
The ministry also reported that hospitals are currently treating 700 people for the virus, with 247 of them in serious condition, out of whom 59 are connected to ventilators.
For comparison, the number of seriously ill last Monday stood at 117, corresponding to a rise of over 100%.
It was also reported that 62,645 schoolchildren are infected with the virus, a three-fold rise from last week, when the number stood at 21,445. Some 94,000 students are currently in quarantine.
Since the start of the pandemic, 8,271 Israelis have succumbed to coronavirus-related complications.
The ministry also said that on Monday, 47,670 Israelis received their fourth dose of coronavirus vaccine, putting the total number of Israelis jabbed with the second booster at 367,670. Also on Monday, 11,690 Israelis got their third vaccine jab, and 8,334 were vaccinated for the first time - most of them aged 5 to 11.