COVID in Israel: infection rate at two-month low, serious cases still climbing

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Israel has recorded its lowest infection rate since early June, but serious coronavirus cases are still climbing and now stand at 670, the highest such figure in three months, Health Ministry data released on Monday shows.

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The COVID-19 infection rate known as the R number – the average number of people each coronavirus carrier infects – dropped to 1.14, the lowest reported infection rate since early June, having waned significantly since peaking at 2.44 in mid-June.

At the same time, Israel reported 6,467 new COVID cases on Monday, and the highest rate of positive coronavirus tests since early March.

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The rate of positive tests climbed from Saturday’s figure of 5.42 percent to 6.31 percent on Monday. There are currently 670 patients in serious condition, 162 of whom are in critical condition, including 108 patients on ventilators. To date, 6,830 people have died with COVID.

Since the pandemic began, 994,615 Israelis have been diagnosed with the coronavirus (roughly 10.8 percent of the population) and 919,984 of them have recovered.

Less than a month after Israel became the first country to officially launch a booster campaign, almost 1.5 million Israelis have received their third shot of the COVID vaccine.

According to the latest Health Ministry figures, more than 60 percent of those aged 60 and up have received their third shot. These figures stand at 60 percent among Israelis ages 60-69, 75.8 percent among Israelis ages 70-79, 71.6 percent among Israelis ages 80-89, and 66.2 percent among Israelis ages 90 and up. Some 37.2 percent of Israelis among the ages of 50 and 59 have received the third dose.

On Sunday night, Israel’s cabinet decided that the country would reopen its schools on September 1, despite fears that doing so will cause coronavirus cases to surge.

Both elementary and high schools will open on September 1, as they were originally expected to, the cabinet decided. Additionally, schools will be allowed to administer vaccinations during school hours, subject to parental approval, circumventing Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton who had previously voiced concern over in-school vaccinations.