Highest Daily Rise in New COVID Cases Since Feb. 1

The Health Ministry on Tuesday morning reported that 8,646 new coronavirus cases had been diagnosed the previous day – the highest daily rise in infection since February 1.

With some 143,000 tests conducted on Monday, the infection rate continued to rise, putting it at 6.20%.

Out of 55,323 active patients, 559 are in serious condition – a rise of 31 from the previous day, with 89 connected to ventilators.

The death toll since the start of the pandemic stands at 6,694.

Also on Monday, Israel administered its one-millionth coronavirus booster shot two weeks after the country began offering a third vaccine dose to its citizens.

“We have now reached a million citizens who took responsibility for themselves and their environment and were vaccinated with the third vaccine,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennet said in a joint statement by the Prime Minister’s Office and Health Ministry. “This is a wonderful statistic and a great achievement, but there is still a lot of work ahead of us.”

The booster shot campaign initially only included adults over the age of 60 and was later expanded to include those aged 50 and over.

By reaching this milestone, Israel has vaccinated more than half of 1.9 million Israelis aged 50 and up who have been given the first two vaccine doses at least five months ago.