Israel's rate of positive COVID tests stands at 6.7%, after 4,922 of the 75,574 people who tested for the coronavirus on Thursday, were found to be carrying the virus.
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As of Friday morning, there were 65,360 active cases, 985 of which were serious. Of those in serious condition, 304 were on ventilators. Fifteen people died of the virus on Thursday, bringing the country's COVID death toll to 5,286.
With the number of serious cases on the decline, Haifa's Rambam Medical Center announced it would be closing its IDF-run coronavirus ward. Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center was among a number of other hospitals to announce it was preparing to do the same.
The military intelligence task force on the coronavirus warned of a sharp increase in morbidity in the coming weeks as a result of the spread of the UK variant of the disease and the easing of lockdown restrictions.
In an encouraging development, however, the task force noted the rate of reproduction was at 0.88, the lowest since Nov. 4.
Infections among those aged 60 and under were on the decline, according to the report, although the task force expressed concern over the 40% increase in infections among younger Israelis. The change has not led to a significant decrease in morbidity, according to the report.
Noting Israel's vaccination campaign has stalled among those aged 60 and over, with around 10% of the sector having neither recovered from the virus nor received the first dose of the vaccine, the report called on Israelis to get the jab.
Over 3,765 Israelis have received the first dose and over 2,396,540 have received the second dose of the vaccine as of Thursday.
According to the Maccabi Healthcare Services HMO, less than 0.1% of those who received the second dose of the vaccine have been infected with the virus. The vaccine has proven to be 93% effective at preventing infection thus far.
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