Israel's coronavirus infection rate stands at 21.83%, according to Health Ministry data published Sunday. Of the 439,414 people to test for COVID Monday, 83,613 were found to have the disease.
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Israel currently has over half a million - 580,369 - active cases of the virus. There are 845 people in serious condition, 177 of whom are on ventilators and 198 of whom are hooked up to ECMO machines.
Although 1,892,219 Israelis have recovered from COVID-19 since the outbreak of the pandemic, 8,487 have died.
An Israeli government advisory panel has recommended offering a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose to all adults, on condition that at least five months have passed since they received the third or recovered from the illness, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
Implementation of the measure, which would significantly expand eligibility now limited to the over-60s and other high-risk groups, is subject to approval by the Health Ministry director-general.
It was not immediately clear when that might happen.
The ministry's statement said the recommendation was made given findings that those who received the fourth shot were three-to-five times as protected against serious illness and twice as protected against infection, compared to the thrice-vaccinated.
Driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant, the current wave of the pandemic has put significant pressure on Israel's four national healthcare providers. While a majority of those confirmed to be infected with the virus do not require medical treatment, 76,000 COVID carriers do require medical care.
The expert panel advising the Health Ministry on the coronavirus warned of potential "harm to the quality of care in the coming weeks."
Noting record levels of severe illness and record infections still lay ahead, the team warned there would be a significant price to pay.
"The main concern of excess mortality this time is not for those on ventilators in intensive care units but in internal medicine, geriatric departments, and among elderly members of the community as a result of the decline in quality of treatment."
To contend with the increase in seriously ill patients, Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash has ordered hospital directors to prepare to add more hospital beds and limit elective surgeries as much as possible.
Meanwhile, vaccinations among children aged 5 to 11 are on the decline following the government's announcement Israel will end quarantines for students exposed to coronavirus carriers. Prior to the announcement, between 5,000 and 6,000 students were vaccinated daily. In the last three days, that number has dropped to below 2,000.
Dr. Tzachi Grossman, who heads the Israel Pediatric Association, said he was not surprised by the findings. "I was on the team that weighed shortening the quarantines, and I knew there would be a decrease in the number of vaccinations, but the information we have today about long-term damage from the coronavirus demands we not take risks but go and get vaccinated. I'm talking for example about PIMS, the multi-system inflammation, as well as the symptoms of long COVID: lethargy, weakness, and muscle pain. We see from the world that there are such symptoms in children after the Omicron wave. The vaccine protects and prevents a large percentage of children from getting into this situation. We today have information on the virus also causing diabetes in youths and other neurological phenomena like convulsions and loss of consciousness.
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