The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Israel passed the 50,000 mark, the Health Ministry reported Sunday, saying it currently stood at 50,714.
COVID-19 has so far claimed the lives of 415 Israelis, while 21,875 patients have recovered from it, the ministry said.
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The data showed that there are currently 28,424 active cases. In a further worrying update, the number of patients in life-threatening conditions soared past 259, including over 70 on ventilators.
Some 19,337 corona tests were conducted on Sunday, with 951 of them coming back positive for the virus.
Israel won praise for its initial response to the coronavirus pandemic, but the government has come under criticism amid a resurgence in cases after lockdown measures were mostly lifted.
Angry demonstrators have taken to the streets to protest the government's handling of the crisis.
The pandemic has also taken its toll on medical personnel, stretched thin over the outbreak.
Health Ministry data showed that 2,908 medical staff are currently in isolation, including 819 nurses and 509 doctors, 645 maintenance workers, 244 auxiliary personnel, 102 physical therapists, 60 pharmacists, and 55 lab technicians.
The Israeli Nurses Union declared a strike on Monday after last-ditch efforts to meet their demands had failed.
The nurses, who declared a labor dispute last month, said that the gross staff shortage has made it impossible for them to continue working and warned that patient care was being compromised.
Nurses Union President Ilana Cohen told Kan 11 News that the Finance Ministry "should be understood that the shortage [of nurses] didn't start with the corona pandemic. The Treasury has to find a way to resolve the situation."
Finance Ministry Director General Keren Terner-Eyal met with Cohen on Sunday but they were unable to come to an agreement.
It was not immediately clear whether the nurses' strike would only last for one day or be open-ended.
Medical interns in hospitals nationwide said launched a two-hour solidarity strike Monday, between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m.
According to Channel 12 News, as part of the strike, nursing services in HMOs, hospitals, and health clinics were halted completely.
Surgery rooms will operate with reduced staff and all non-essential and elective procedures have been canceled.
Nurses assigned to COVID-19 response centers, hospital wards, and laboratories will work as usual, the union said, but epidemiological centers will have skeletal staff for urgent cases of rabies and meningitis.
Also on Sunday, the Health Ministry said it was looking into shortening the isolation period imposed on individuals potentially exposed to the virus from 14 days to 10 days.
The decision is being weighed in light of a similar move by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and will be made in the coming days, a Health Ministry official said.
Also on Sunday, British scientists have reportedly been able to identify six different strains of COVID-19 – a development that could have major implications on how the virus is treated.
British media reported that the team, working at King's College London, believes that each of the six strains presents its own set of symptoms and varies in severity. This could help doctors identify which patients could be prone to develop serious complication from COVID-19 once diagnosed.
"These findings have important implications for care and monitoring of people who are most vulnerable to severe COVID-19," Dr. Claire Steves told Sky News.
"If you can predict who these people are at day five, you have time to give them support and early interventions such as monitoring blood oxygen and sugar levels, and ensuring they are properly hydrated — simple care that could be given at home, preventing hospitalizations and saving lives."
Meanwhile, Dr. Gili Regev-Yochay, director of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, said Monday she was still optimistic that Israel could stabilize its morbidity rate with the proper steps, but also warned that a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic was likely to coincide with the outbreak of flu season this upcoming winter.
More than 14.5 million people have been reported to be infected by the coronavirus globally and 604,232 people have died.
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