Israel on Tuesday reported its highest tally of new, daily COVID-19 cases since October, health officials said, as the Omicron variant continues to spread throughout the country.
The Health Ministry said 719 people tested positive for coronavirus on Monday. After 490,586 coronavirus tests had been conducted, the infection rate now stands at 0.68%.
The virus' reproduction number (R), which shows how many people are infected on average by one virus carrier, now stands at 1.02, having fallen below 1 just a few weeks ago.
The ministry added that 106 patients are in severe condition, of whom 61 are ventilated. Data from the Health Ministry shows that 82% of seriously ill patients have not been vaccinated at all.
Since the start of the pandemic, 8,209 people have succumbed to the virus in Israel, seven of them since the beginning of December (five of whom have not been vaccinated).
All those who have passed away from COVID-related complications since the start of this month were aged 60 and over.
The number of "red" local authorities with high coronavirus infection rates now stands at five, according to the Health Ministry, three of which are in the northern Golan Heights. Among them are the Druze towns of Majdal Shams, Buqata and Ein Kenia. The other two are the central city of Ramat HaSharon and Katzar a-Sir.
The Health Ministry said Sunday it has confirmed 11 cases of the Omicron variant, stoking fears of a pending surge in infections. Four of the confirmed cases are unvaccinated individuals who had recently returned from South Africa.
Israel was one of the first countries to close its borders to all non-Israeli citizens following the discovery of the first case of the Omicron variant last week. Israelis from abroad are allowed to return home.
Associated Press contributed to this report