Coronavirus deaths and the number of seriously ill patients doubled in Israel in a week, according to Health Ministry data published on Friday morning.

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The reproduction rate, which relates to the number of people each confirmed carrier infects, stands at 1.96. Any value above 1 shows that the transmission rate is growing.

Of the 206,704 Israelis who were screened for the virus in the past 24 hours, 16,830 (8.22%) tested positive. There are 86,071 active cases in the country with 338 patients hospitalized. Of those, 143 are in serious condition.

Thus far, 4,309,141 Israelis have been vaccinated with the third dose, 5,955,873 got two shots and 6,613,437 received one jab. Over 195,999 Israelis were immunized with the fourth dose since the launch of the campaign five days ago.

Meanwhile, Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash said on Thursday that Pfizer's oral coronavirus pills were not a "game-changer."

"We estimate that it will prevent several hundred serious illnesses," he said, speaking to medical students at the Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan.

"Many cannot take them because of pregnancy, kidney failure, and other [restrictions]. Another challenge is to identify patients at risk. There is also a logistical complexity to bring the poll to the patient's home on time and monitor the response," he explained.

The first shipment of the Pfizer pills landed in Israel on Dec. 30, one of the first countries in the world to receive the new drug. The Health Ministry granted emergency approval to the medication after the US Federal Drug Administration did the same.

In related news, Coronavirus Commissioner Professor Zarka said in an interview on Friday the ministry predicted 2,500 critically ill patients to be hospitalized with COVID during the Omicron wave.

"Omicron is not yet thought to cause serious illness, but it is too early to celebrate," he said. "Some scenarios predict 4,000 patients in critical condition. But the most likely scenario is 2,500."

Zarka assured the healthcare system would be able to handle such a caseload, but "it needs more oxygen."

In the meantime, the health and education ministries announced on Thursday a new educational outline to take effect next week, pending approval by the government and the Knesset's Education Committee.

The new outline essentially cancels the previous "traffic light" system that determined whether students studied online or in class based on the coronavirus infection rate in the city. It will also scrape the previously necessary 70% of vaccinated students for the class to study face-to-face.
When coming into contact with a confirmed coronavirus carrier, students and teachers will be subject to the same testing and quarantine rules as the rest of the country.

If a teacher or student tests positive for COVID, others who are vaccinated or recovered from the virus (as per Health Ministry definitions) will have to take an at-home antigen test. If the results come back positive, the person will be required to self-isolate for 10 days, to be exited with a doctor's approval.

Non-vaccinated students will have to take a supervised antigen test. If negative, they will be required to quarantine for seven days and take another supervised antigen test at the end of the week. If positive, they will be required to self-isolate for 10 days, to be exited with a doctor's approval.

Teachers will continue to be required to present "green pass" vaccination certificates. Indoor mask mandates will also remain intact.

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The Health Ministry reported Wednesday morning that of the 82,141 Israelis it screened for the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, 903 (1.1%) tested positive. The reproduction rate stands at 1.26, slightly down from the day before.

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There are currently 8,637 active cases in the country with 123 patients hospitalized. Of those, 80 are in serious condition.

Israel has reported 1,358,386 cases, including 8,235 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic last year. No deaths were reported on Wednesday.

Thus far, 4,170,593 Israelis have been fully vaccinated, 5,849,392 received two doses, and 6,471,678 got one jab.

Also on Wednesday, the ministry launched a large-scale vaccination campaign in several malls across Israel in order to encourage more Israelis to get inoculated.
Vaccination stations will operate between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. with no prior registering required.

The move is part of the ministry's campaign to make vaccination sites more accessible to the general population. It works together with the Education Ministry, hospitals, health funds, local authorities, and the IDF's Home Front Command to do so.

The campaign consists of four parts: continued vaccination efforts in health funds; immunization in schools by health fund nurses and mobile vaccination vehicles; vaccination sites in key locations in local authorities; and vaccination stations in malls.

On Tuesday night, a Health Ministry task force recommended that a fourth vaccination dose be administered to Israelis age 60 and over, to healthcare workers, at-risk patients, and people who work with the elderly.

Professor Nimrod Maimon, head of the ministry's Magen Avot v'Imahot assisted living program, said staff had already begun preparing for a fourth dose as "the working assumption is that Omicron will reach the nursing homes eventually."

Maimon said he "highly recommended" administering the fourth dose to all senior citizens in Israel.

"We have seen how effective the booster is, and how the older population has almost no serious side effects at all … Giving our parents another dose will further strengthen their immunity and will benefit them," he said.

Meanwhile, in the United States, President Joe Biden announced the government will provide 500 million free rapid home-testing kits, increase support for hospitals under strain and redouble vaccination and boosting efforts as Omicron continues to surge through the country.

At the White House on Tuesday, Biden detailed major changes to his COVID-19 winter plan, his hand forced by the fast-spreading variant, whose properties are not yet fully understood by scientists. Yet his message was clear that the winter holidays could be close to normal for the vaccinated while potentially dangerous for the unvaccinated.

"It's the only responsible thing to do," the president said. "Omicron is serious and potentially deadly business for unvaccinated people," Biden said and criticized misleading statements posted on social media that discourage people from getting vaccinated.

The US has reported 52,253,848 cases since the outbreak of the pandemic and 830,990 deaths.

South Africa, where Omicron was first detected, reported a noticeable drop in new coronavirus cases in recent days that may signal that the country's dramatic Omicron-driven surge has passed its peak, medical experts say.

Daily virus case counts are notoriously unreliable, as they can be affected by uneven testing, reporting delays, and other fluctuations. But they are offering one tantalizing hint – far from conclusive yet – that Omicron infections may recede quickly after a ferocious spike.

South Africa has been at the forefront of the omicron wave and the world is watching for any signs of how it may play out there to try to understand what may be in store.

After hitting a high of nearly 27,000 new cases nationwide on Thursday, the numbers dropped to about 15,424 on Tuesday. In Gauteng province – South Africa's most populous with 16 million people, including the largest city, Johannesburg, and the capital, Pretoria – the decrease started earlier and has continued.

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