The Health Ministry reported Friday that 1,434 Israelis tested positive for coronavirus over the past 24 hours, saying that overall, 64,787 tests were taken on Thursday. The infection rate currently stands at 2.3%.
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Israel has recorded 341,544 coronavirus cases since mid-March, including 2,891 deaths. There are currently 11,761 active cases: 537 patients are hospitalized, 287 are in critical condition, and 101 are on ventilators.
Based on the Health Ministry's "stoplight" system, which classifies cities, towns, and local authorities as red, orange, yellow, or green depending on their COVID numbers, there are currently 27 "red" and 28 "orange" localities in Israel.
The Knesset Information Center has reported that the country might be on the verge of a third wave of infections. There continues to be an increase in the number of daily infections. More than 1,000 new cases have been verified every day in the last week. More patients 60 years and older have tested positive, and as a result, the level of morbidity is expected to increase within a week, the report said.
The Health Ministry warned that "at the current rate of infections, for every two days that the infection continues at its current growth rate, one lockdown day will be required to return to the original state."
In wake of the report, the Coronavirus Cabinet is expected to convene on Sunday to discuss the next steps to curb the spread of the virus in the country.
Meanwhile, Director-General of the Health Ministry Professor Hezi Levi informed local healthcare providers that four million COVID vaccines are expected to arrive in Israel in the next few weeks.
"We will need to vaccinate 2 million people with the first dose of the vaccine, and 21 days later with the second dose. The vaccination process will be challenging, also because the vaccines do not come in a ready-to-use syringe, but require longer preparation," a medical source explained.
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