Of the 38,670 Israelis who were screened for the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, 223 tested positive, according to Health Ministry data published Sunday morning. The infection rate stands at 0.63% and the reproduction rate, which relates to the number of people each confirmed carrier infects, at 1.09.
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There are currently 5,778 active cases in the country with 145 patients hospitalized. Of those, 100 are in serious condition.
Israel has reported 1,349,818 coronavirus cases, including 8,210 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic last year. Thus far, 4,120,329 Israelis have been fully vaccinated, 5,789,014 received two jabs and 6,400,940 got one dose.
The Health Ministry also said that 20 more Israelis tested positive for Omicron on Saturday, bringing the country's total caseload to 55. According to data, 42 of the 55 individuals were either vaccinated against or recovered from the coronavirus. In addition, 51 others were designated as possible Omicron carriers, pending confirmation through testing.
Against the backdrop of the alarming rise in Omicron cases in Israel, and worldwide, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett stressed at a government meeting on Sunday that "we cannot contain Omicron forever, which is why Israelis need to go out and use these crucial days to vaccinate their children, most of whom are not vaccinated, not even with the first dose. Omicron hurts children as well, we see it from other countries and in Israel. I call on parents: the way to protect your children is to vaccinate them and provide them this protection. Do not waste a moment, take them already today to get vaccinated."
Bennett also said the Health Ministry will immediately begin an emergency campaign to increase the vaccination rate in schools across Israel.
"We will also consider administering a fourth vaccine dose for the at-risk population," he said. "I understand that people are tired of hearing about COVID and talking about it, but the truth is that the situation in Israel is significantly better than almost everywhere else in the world. We came prepared for this battle, and if we all join in, we will overcome Omicron just as we overcame Delta."
The premier is striving to promote a series of restrictions on unvaccinated Israelis and other measures to curb Omicron that include reinstating the "green pass" vaccination certificate mandate in malls, increasing its enforcement in workplaces, as well as getting unvaccinated individuals who return from abroad and test positive for COVID to finance their own stays at quarantine hotels.
Last week, Bennett also spoke with the heads of major Israeli health maintenance organizations in order to increase national vaccination efforts. Among the attendees were also Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash, and Coronavirus Commissioner Salman Zarka.
"Our national strategy at this stage is two-fold. First, to containt the Omicron strain from entering Israel as much as possible, and second, raise the immunity level of Israelis," he said. "The transmission rate of the virus is extremely high, as we see from data from the world. I am concerned about this, and committed to doing everything possible to contain the spread of Omicron in the country" as much as possible.
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Meanwhile, Director of Public Health Services at the Health Ministry Dr. Sharon Elroi Preiss is advancing restrictions at Ben-Gurion International Airport, including adding the entire European continent onto the government's no-fly list.
She told Channel 12 news that morbidity in Europe was "widespread" and that the "list of 'red' countries that we know have a high infection rate should definitely be expanded."
In related news, evidence from South Africa suggests that Omicron is less likely to lead to serious illness than the Delta variant, although the spread of the new strain gives cause for concern.
In a weekly online press briefing, the World Health Organization's Africa branch said the continent recorded 107,000 extra cases in the week to Sunday, compared with 55,000 in the previous week.
The new surge infected 90,000 people in the past month, Minister of Health Joe Phaahla said on Friday.
However, in South Africa, which discovered the new variant last month, "severe cases remain low," the WHO said in a statement.
"At the moment, virtually everything points toward it being a milder disease," Willem Hanekom, director of the Africa Health Research Institute, told Associated Press. "It'' early days, and we need to get the final data. Often hospitalizations and deaths happen later, and we are only two weeks into this wave."
The WHO reiterated its objections to travel restrictions, which it said had been issued by more than 70 countries and were overwhelmingly aimed at southern Africa, even though countries in the region were "transparent with their data."
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
