• Tue. Mar 19th, 2024

Serious Coronavirus Cases Reach Lowest in Two Months

Oct 9, 2021

On Friday, the number of patients in serious condition hospitalized due to the coronavirus dropped to 460, which is the lowest number that was recorded in Israel in the last two months. According to the figures, 349 of the patients in serious condition are unvaccinated and 68 of the patients have received two of the three doses of the coronavirus vaccine. 29 people who were hospitalized had gotten all three shots. Earlier this week, researchers working at the Weizmann Institute of Science had stated that the total number of serious cases in the country could go as low as 250 at the end of the month. 

According to the data provided by the Health Ministry, there are around 720,000 people in Israel who are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine but have not yet received a single dose. On Thursday, the total number of new cases confirmed was around 2,064. On Friday morning, the number of active cases in the country had reached 31,868. Since the beginning of the pandemic in the country, a total of 7,885 people have died because of the virus, whereas the total number of verified infections has reached 1,302,083. On Thursday, more than 100,000 tests were conducted and the positivity rate was around 2.14%. 

This rate is also the lowest that has been recorded in the country in the last two months. The Health Ministry figures show that at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech has been administered to 6,174,330 people in the country, whereas two doses have been given to 5,675,635. A third dose has been given to around 40% of Israel’s population, which is around 3,706,434. It should also be noted that around 21% of the country’s population is not eligible for the coronavirus vaccine because they are under the age of 12. This is equal to around 2 million people.

Israel became the first country to launch a campaign for the third dose of the vaccine in August when they began administering the shot in the country from the 1st of the month. Initially, the third dose had only been limited to people aged 60 and above, but the eligibility age was dropped gradually. Eventually, it was expanded to include all individuals in the country above the age of 12, who had gotten the second shot of the vaccine at least five months ago. As the cases are falling, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Health Ministry said that starting from next weeks, students will not be required to quarantine after coming into contact with a confirmed coronavirus case in towns that have low COVID-19 infection rates.

The Health Ministry has declared these regions as ‘green cities’ and students would be required to take PCR tests that will be conducted by the Health Management Organizations in the country or the IDF’s Home Front Command. If the student gets a negative test, they would be permitted to go to school immediately instead of having to quarantine for a week. Rapid tests will be conducted of exposed students for a week. 

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