Daily COVID Cases Surpass 10,000, Close to All-Time Record

On Monday, the total number of new daily cases recorded in Israel reached 10,644, which is close to the all-time high record of the country, with the number of cases increasing by more than 4,000 as opposed to the previous day. The figure was far ahead of the 6,576 cases that had been recorded on Sunday and put the figure close to the figure of 11,333, which is the highest number of cases recorded in a single day in Israel on September 2nd. The ‘R’ number, which is known as the transmission number because it measures how many people an infected person can infect on average, also rose to 1.91. 

If this figure is higher than 1, it means the virus is spreading. The total number of active cases in Israel also rose to 45,580, which had been about 8,000 almost two weeks ago. This includes about 236 people who have been hospitalized because of complications caused by COVID-19. Of these patients, about 117 were in serious condition. There has been a moderate increase in this figure in the current outbreak, before which it had reduced to 77. The positive test rate also continued to increase, as 5.51% of the tests conducted on Monday were positive. 

The total death toll since the start of the pandemic stood at 8,247. According to the statistics disclosed by the Health Ministry, the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine has been administered to approximately 6,586,219 people in Israel and 5,935,206 people had gotten two doses. The booster shot has been administered to 4,273,928 people from a total population of 9.5 million. According to the ministry, the fourth shot has also been administered to 24,600 people since Israel became the world’s first country to start distributing additional boosters to its health workers and elderly population. As case numbers continue to surge, Israel is hoping the extra dose would help it in beating back the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. 

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Sunday that the fourth shot was available for all Israelis above the age of 60, along with all medical workers. As per the latest news, around 95,000 people had already made an appointment to get the fourth shot. Nachman Ash, the Director-General of the Health Ministry also received his fourth dose on Tuesday and encouraged all Israelis who are eligible to get the boosters in order to minimize the chances of serious illness in the latest surge. The 60-year-old Ash had gotten his dose in Tel Aviv at the Maccabi healthcare clinic. 

According to Ash, he was excited to get the additional shot and urged others to get it done as well. He stated that they had deliberated over the fourth dose and it had taken them a few days to approve it, but they were confident that it would help the country in managing the latest outbreak. He said that he hoped the vaccine would help them manage what is presumed to be a complicated time for the country, with the number of cases multiplying rapidly.