Israel's coronavirus infection rate stands at 4.83%, a record not seen since Sept. 20, as 6,562 of the 226,008 people who tested for the virus Sunday were found to have COVID-19.
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According to the Health Ministry data, the reproduction rate has increased 0.04 since Sunday and now stands at 1.88, the highest recorded in over six months.
At a press conference held to address the spike in infections Sunday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel would soon confirm 50,000 new cases a day.
He announced Israel would begin administering a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine to Israelis aged 60 and over but did not mention the possibility of a lockdown or other restrictions in an attempt to rein in the virus.
"The situation right now is one of around 5,9000 confirmed [cases] a day. We will cross the line of 20,000 confirmed cases and at the end of the wave, we will reach 50,000."
He continued: "I can't say there won't be any further developments. I believe that there will soon be changes to the criteria for testing to ease the load. I can say that in elementary schools, vaccinated students and teaching staff who are exposed to a confirmed patient will be able to be tested at schools by coronavirus monitors we've brought in.
There are currently 80,000 students and educators in quarantine in Israel. Dozens of schools and kindergartens are closed, and nearly 13,000 students and education system employees have been found to have contracted the virus.
"Because a lot of children have not been vaccinated despite our request, we will definitely see a considerable amount of distance learning," Bennett said, noting he had spoken to Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton about plans to prepare for the new situation.
"We will do everything to overcome this wave" with minimal damage to the economy and the market, he said, noting it would be shorter than previous waves.
There are 37,675 active cases of the virus. There are 110 people in serious condition, 35 of whom are on ventilators. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, 8,244 Israelis have died.
As for the possible lifting of no-fly lists, the prime minister said this might be a possibility.
"When there are few confirmed cases, entry from overseas is dramatic, but when there are 5,000 or 10,000 confirmed cases [a day], then entry from overseas is insignificant.
The Likud party attacked Bennett in a statement following the premier's press conference.
"Bennett has lost control of the pandemic. He is not managing the coronavirus; the coronavirus is managing him. Herd infection is not a strategy but an expression of helplessness that passes all of the responsibility onto citizens. We have reached this gloomy state because of Bennett's confused and leaderless government that hasn't made any decision to stop the pandemic in time."
Meanwhile, the government's so-called "coronavirus cabinet" on Sunday approved a temporary green pass for citizens who received one dose of the vaccine that will be valid for 30 days. The temporary green pass will go into effect on Jan. 6.
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Earlier on Sunday, the military intelligence task force on the coronavirus issued a report assessing Israel would break its previous record for daily confirmed cases in two weeks. It further notes testing had shown a variety of cases in Israel now involved the highly infectious Omicron variant. The high number of confirmed daily cases along with analysis of sewage water in 20 cities across the country points to the existence of many additional chains of community infection that have yet to be identified.
Also on Sunday, the Health Ministry authorized Merck's molnupiravir anti-viral pill for coronavirus patients aged 18 and over. The ministry signed a supply contract for its supply, and the first shipment is due to arrive in Israel soon.
"The drug is intended for COVID patients with mild to moderate symptoms who have at least one risk factor for deterioration in hospitalization or mortality, when other existing and approved treatment alternatives in Israel are not suitable for them," the Health Ministry said in a statement.
The pills are intended for home treatment and should be given 3-5 days from the onset of symptoms and taken for five days, according to the statement.
Last month, the US authorized Molnupiravir for high-risk patients. It has been shown to reduce hospitalization and death by 30% in clinical trials.
Israel recently received its first shipment of Pfizer's anti-viral Paxlovid pill.
Pfizer said that clinical trials confirmed that Paxlovid reduced hospitalizations and deaths among at-risk people by almost 90% when it was taken in the first few days after symptoms appeared.
Amid the surge of infections, infectious disease expert and head of the School of Public Health at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Professor Nadav Davidovitch told i24NEWS Israel must adopt a different approach to the Omicron-fueled fifth wave.
"When you have an R coefficient that is extremely high, things are very different," Davidovitch explained, referring to the virus reproduction rate used to quantify a disease's contagion.
"You need to put much more emphasis on isolating positive cases… and of course on the vulnerable groups - elderly, immunocompromised."
With such rapid transmission, "most of the country will be infected, I don't know if [it will be] 99%, but a very high percentage. You need to change your strategy," Davidovitch said.
He encouraged the government to take citizens' emotional needs into account when forming COVID policies and spoke out against officials who did not abide by virus regulations.
"I think this is something that, unfortunately, is eroding public trust," the expert said, adding that people should continue to behave responsibly and get vaccinated.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
