Serious Cases and Positivity Rate Continue to Fall in Israel

An update on Thursday morning from the Health Ministry showed that the total number of new COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Israel stood at about 11,799 and had a positivity rate of 15%, as there were 78,182 PCR tests that were conducted on the day. As of Thursday morning, there has been a decline in the number of serious cases of the coronavirus, as they stood at 637. This was down from 693 on Wednesday. There are 244 people who are in critical condition and there are 26 patients connected to ECMO machines and 233 who are intubated. 

The death toll in Israel since the beginning of the pandemic has now reached 10,076 and there were 178 people who lost their lives in the last week alone. Since March 2020, the total number of cases that have been diagnosed in Israel is somewhere around 3.6 million, but the real number is believed to be much higher. The ‘R’ number, which is known as the transmission number, has declined to 0.66. This is an indication of a continued decline in the coronavirus wave. 

However, statistics show that there was a 6% increase in mortality in Israel during the pandemic. A report from the Health Ministry shows that as compared to 2017 to 2019, there had been an increase in the total number of deaths between March 2020 and December 2021. The report had been published back on Monday and was aimed at comparing the mortality rate in the country in proportion to the numbers in previous years, as well as international statistics. The mortality rate had gone up in Israel in 2020 and 2021 when people had been trying to cope up with the COVID-19 pandemic. In comparison, the average mortality rate for both males and females had dropped about 29% and 28%, respectively, from 2000 to 2019. 

As compared to the numbers in 2019, there had been a 3% rise in mortality in 2020 alone. There had been a 5% increase in mortality for men, while just 1% increase for women. There was also an increase in the total number of deaths per month as compared to numbers from 2017 to 2019. The rises had been recorded in five months, which included an increase of 23% in the month of October alone. The mortality rate last year had risen by 6% as compared to 2019 and males suffered more deaths than females once more. The rate was 7% for the former and 4% for the latter.

The 9% increase in mortality in Israel is significantly higher than the increase in deaths globally during the same time period. The global increase in deaths stands at 7% in this time period, as opposed to the average of 2017 to 2019. The report had discovered a direct correlation between months with overall high mortality rates and a high number of coronavirus cases. The report also highlighted Israel’s leading cause of death, which is cancer, and had become the top cause of death back in 1999.