Israel’s COVID infection rate known as the R number – the average number of people each coronavirus carrier infects – hit on Wednesday a three-month low and currently stands at 0.95, according to Health Ministry data.
The last time the R number dropped below 1 was in early June, before the delta variant started spreading, leading to Israel’s fourth wave of the coronavirus. It then stood at 0.89.
Furthermore, a decline in the rate of positive tests has also been recorded. Seven percent of the 97,000 COVID tests conducted Tuesday in Israel returned positive, while 8.4 percent of about 140,000 tests came back positive last week. Israel recorded 6,762 new cases on Tuesday, of whom 4,079 were unvaccinated.
Currently, 662 coronavirus patients are hospitalized in serious condition. Out of the new 69 serious patients recorded on Tuesday, 49 have not been vaccinated against the virus and 29 are younger than 60.
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So far, over 2.6 million people have received a third COVID shot in Israel – a figure experts say could prevent another outbreak of the virus as Israel marks the High Holy Days, during which many social gatherings and prayers in synagogues are expected.
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