Some 745 new coronavirus cases were diagnosed in Israel Sunday, bringing the overall case tally to 329,403, the Health Ministry said Sunday.
As of Sunday, 2,806 Israelis have succumbed to COVID-19, while 318,141patients have recovered from it.
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Ministry data showed a slight downturn in the rate of positive tests, dipping down to 2.3% from 2.8% on Sunday. The positivity rate remains above the lowest points noted since the resurgence of the pandemic, which were recorded last week and ranged from 1.4% to 1.8%.
Meanwhile, Health Ministry data showed that travel was taking a toll on the number of Israelis testing positive for coronavirus.
The ministry found that nearly 20% of Israelis who returned from Turkey in October tested positive for COVID.
Turkey remained a popular tourist destination for Israelis, despite the country's high coronavirus infection rate.
The data showed that out of 988 Israelis who returned from Turkey between Oct. 1 and 28, at least 197 were infected with the virus, making it one of the most infectious destinations for Israeli travelers in the world.
Bulgaria ranked second with an infection rate of 13%, followed by the United States with 6%, and Greece with 3%.
Also on Sunday, a Danish study called into question the efficacy of wearing face masks.
Under the auspices of the University of Copenhagen, the "'Danmask-19 trial' was conducted in the spring with over 6,000 participants, when the public was not being told to wear masks but other public health measures were in place."
Unlike other studies looking at masks, the Danmask study was a randomized controlled trial – making it the highest quality scientific evidence," The Spectator reported.
Approximately half of the participants were given 50 disposable face masks, which they were instructed to change after eight hours of use. "After one month, the trial participants were tested using both PCR, antibody and lateral flow tests and compared with the trial participants who did not wear a mask."
It was revealed that there was a minimal statistical difference between those who wore masks and those who did not in terms of their susceptibility to COVID-19 infection; 1.8% of those wearing masks and 2.1% of the control group.
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Even accounting for a plurality of people wearing the masks "exactly as instructed," it did not make a significant difference to the outcome; two percent of this group were also infected.
The researchers had hoped for a much more statistically significant difference, that masks would perhaps cut infection rate by a half. Ultimately, the researchers concluded "that surgical masks did not protect the wearers against infection with the coronavirus in a large randomized clinical trial," according to The New York Times.
Several observers said that the pandemic in Turkey is out of control, partly due to Ankara's refusal to report asymptomatic cases of COVID-19, according to Israeli media reports.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
