1,023 New COVID Cases in Israel, Contagion Rate Drops Below 2%

The Health Ministry reported Sunday that 1,023 new coronavirus cases have been diagnosed since midnight after 52,000 tests indicating a 1.99% positivity rate – a record low since July 24.

Out of 674 COVID patients hospitalized throughout the country, 463 are in serious condition, of which 186 are connected to ventilators.

The death toll since the start of the pandemic rose to 7,904 after 7 patients died over the weekend.

The Health Ministry added that out of all seriously ill patients, 345 have not been vaccinated at all, 70 received only the two doses of the vaccine, and 31 received both doses as well as the booster.

Among seriously ill patients who are less than 60 years old, 176 were not vaccinated, 21 received both doses and 7 received both doses as well as the booster.

Those figures show that 86% of all seriously ill patients under 60 were those who did not receive the vaccine – compared to 3.5% among those who received the booster.

Out of all COVID patients diagnosed Sunday, 44% were kids under the age of 11 – too young to have received the COVID vaccine – 12% were aged 12 to 18, and 6% were aged 60 and over.

Since the start of Israel’s vaccination drive, over 6 million Israelis received the first dose of the COVID vaccine, over 5.6 million received both doses, and over 3.7 received both doses as well as the booster shot.

The drop in the country’s average contagion rate coincides with the launch of the government’s “Green Class” initiative in areas with low morbidity, which exempts students from automatic quarantine if a student in their class tests positive for coronavirus, and obliges them instead to have daily COVID tests – including two PCR tests – for a week.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett who instructed health officials to implement the initiative said “This program is possible now that we have managed to reduce morbidity caused by the Delta variant of COVID-19. We can now make thing a bit easier for both the kids and their parents.”