Thursday marked Israel's seventh day in a row with less than 1,000 new coronavirus cases reported. According to the Health Ministry, of the 79,539 Israelis it screened for the virus in the past 24 hours, 642 (0.81%) tested positive.
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While last week an average of 1,224 people were found to carry the virus, this week that number decreased to 778. The reproduction rate, which relates to the number of people each confirmed carrier infects, stands at 0.72.
There are 10,031 active cases in the country with 332 patients hospitalized. Of those, 238 are in serious condition. Almost 80% (78.5%) of seriously ill patients have never been vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Israel has reported 1,325,892 cases, including 8,075 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Thus far, 3,932,097 Israelis have been fully vaccinated, 5,722,814 received two jabs and 6,227,096 were inoculated with one dose.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with senior health officials after a panel for the US Food Drug Administration endorsed kid-size doses of Pfizer's vaccine shots for 5-11-year-olds. The ministry's Advisory Committee on Infectious Diseases and Immunization met that same evening to discuss the announcement as well. It is scheduled to convene on Nov. 4 to make a final decision about children's vaccinations. The meeting will be broadcast on the internet.
Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash estimated Israel will begin vaccinating children "in a few weeks."
Meanwhile, Bennet and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz announced Thursday morning open-air gatherings in Israel would no longer be limited to 5,000 participants.
Pending approval by the Coronavirus Cabinet, the move will come into effect on Oct. 29. Nevertheless, participants will still be required to present so-called "green passes" that prove they had been vaccinated against COVID.
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