According to the figures provided by the Health Ministry on Tuesday, there were a total of 67,580 cases that were diagnosed on Monday in Israel. This marks a fall from the total of the previous day which stood at 74,312. There are about 425,000 active cases of COVID-19 in Israel as per the latest numbers. The coronavirus is scheduled to have a meeting at 2 p.m. where it is expected to discuss the cancellation of the Green Pass requirements. As far as the number of serious cases is concerned, they have reached an all-time high of 1,084, which is an increase of 21.1% from the previous week.
Of these serious patients, there are 19 people using ECMO machines, while 247 people have been put on ventilators. The positivity rate in the country currently stands at 26.37%. As far as the ‘R’ number is concerned, it has gone below 1 to reach 0.92. This is also known as the transmission number, which indicates how many people one infected individual can infect. If the number is below 1, it is considered an indication that the virus is abating, while higher than 1 indicates the exact opposite. As the R number falls, so does the number of daily cases.
Another new update on Tuesday was the decision of the Home Front Command to only make PCR testing sites accessible to those above 30, or belonging to high-risk groups. Currently, a medical staff of about 7,170 is either in quarantine or sick because of the coronavirus. The number of intubated and serious patients was also updated by Clalit Health Services within their network of Israeli hospitals. There are a total of 115 patients of COVID-19 at the Rabin Medical Center-Bellinson Campus, which can be found in Petah Tikva. These include 64 patients who are seriously ill and 15 of them who are intubated.
There is also one patient who has recovered from the coronavirus and is connected to an ECMO machine. 18 patients are also suffering from the flu. There are 9 patients of the coronavirus at the Rabin Medical Center-Hasharon Campus and three of these are seriously ill. Local authorities received permission from the Interior Ministry to conduct their policy meetings virtually because the number of serious cases appear to be rising. Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked had introduced a series of policies, including this change and it also received the approval of the Internal Affairs and Environment Committee of the Knesset.
Benny Gantz, the Defense Minister, was also full of praises for the IDF because of their initiative of distributing antigen test kits to kids for helping the educational institutions in Israel in dealing with the fifth wave. Of the total number of patients who are currently in hospital due to serious conditions, there are 520 patients who are fully vaccinated, 427 who are unvaccinated and 117 who are partially vaccinated. The status of the remaining number of patients is unknown. Most of the serious cases have been reported in people aged 60 or above. The death toll in Israel has also climbed to 8,804.