In the past 24 hours, 1,977 people have tested positive for coronavirus, Israel's highest daily tally of confirmed cases since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Health Ministry reported Wednesday morning.
Earlier in July, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said in a closed meeting that if Israel reaches 2,000 confirmed coronavirus cases a day, authorities may have to resort to a general lockdown in order to contain the virus' spread.
Since the beginning of the week, 4,857 new patients have been diagnosed with coronavirus in Israel, and 21,661 patients in the previous 14 days - 1,547 new patients every day on average. For comparison, 17,075 patients were diagnosed in March, April and May combined.
The number of active coronavirus patients in the country also stands at a record-high 31,313, among them, 259 patients in serious condition and 82 patients are on ventilators.
Three Israelis have succumbed overnight to complications of COVID-19, the illness caused by coronavirus, bringing Israel's virus-related fatalities to 430.
Health authorities conducted 29,079 coronavirus tests on Tuesday, 7.78% of which returned positive.
The country's major virus hotspots in the past 7 days were Jerusalem with 1,794 new confirmed cases, followed by Bnei Brak and Beitar-Illit with 962 and 487 news cases, respectively.
Rounding up the list are Tel Aviv with 467 new cases, Beit Shemesh with 414, Petah Tikva with 344, Ashdod with 343, Haifa with 320, Lod with 262 and Modi'in-Illit with 244.