The highly infectious Delta variant wave continues to subside in Israel as more Israelis are vaccinated for coronavirus.
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On Friday, the Health Ministry reported that of the 103,220 Israelis it screened in the last 24 hours, 2,064 (2.14%) tested positive.
The reproduction rate, which relates to the number of people each confirmed carrier infects, stands at 0.73. A reproduction rate of less than 1 means an outbreak is subsiding. In Israel, it has consistently remained below 1 for almost a month.
There are currently 31,868 active cases in the country with 663 Israelis hospitalized. Of those, 460 are in serious condition. In contrast, the average number of seriously ill patients last week stood at 634.
According to data, most hospitalized patients have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus at all, and 93% did not receive their third jabs. Twelve Israelis lost their lives to the virus on Thursday, bringing the total death toll to 7,885.
Israel has reported 1,302,083 coronavirus cases since the outbreak of the pandemic. Thus far, 6,174,330 has been fully inoculated, 5,675,635 received their first shot and 3,706,434 have gotten their third jabs as well.
Meanwhile, Sunday will see the expansion of the government's so-called "Green Class" pilot. As part of the program, unvaccinated pupils in cities with low morbidity rates will no longer need to self-isolate if a classmate is diagnosed with COVID.
Instead, they will need to take a PCR test and return to school as soon as the results come back negative. Upon return, they will be given a week's worth of free rapid antigen kits to take home. They wil be required to get tested every morning for seven day and take another PCR test at the end of the week.
The pilot program had previously begun in some schools in ultra-Orthodox and Arab communities. It aims to keep the institutions open during the pandemic and reduce the number of children in self-isolation.
The program will run through Oct. 15 and will be conducted in so-called "green cities" across Israel. Under the ministry's "spotlight" ranking, each city is designated as "green", "yellow", "orange" or "red" based on infection rates. The higher the morbidity, the more restrictions are in place in that city, particularly on public gatherings in closed spaces.
Approximately 120 school in more than 5 dozen locations will take part in the program. As per ministry guidelines, schools in cities with high morbidity rates are allowed to join the pilot as well.
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