The Health Ministry reported Thursday that 2,377 new coronavirus cases were diagnosed Wednesday after 105,000 tests conducted, indicating a 2.3% positivity rate.
Out of all COVID patients diagnosed Wednesday, 1,296 are children of school age, an age group with a 3.1% positivity rate. According to the ministry, 40% of all newly confirmed cases were in kids under the age of 11, too young to have received the COVID vaccine.
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Children in an elementary school in Modiin during the fourth wave of the COVID pandemic
(Photo: Yariv Katz)
The number of school students in isolation meanwhile, continued to drop and now stands on 90,539 - of which 17,051 were infected by the virus and 73,488 were made to isolation due to exposure to a COVID patient.
A drop was also noted in the nation's R number - which indicates how many people on average are infected by a single COVID patient - which now stands at 0.78.
Out of 33,808 active patients, 475 are in serious condition, with 200 connected to ventilators. The death toll since the start of the pandemic rose to 7,862.
The Health Ministry added that 69% of all COVID cases diagnosed Wednesday, were found in people who had not received the coronavirus vaccine at all, while 23% had received the second two doses over six months ago, and 4% received both doses as well as the booster.
Data further shows that out of every 100,000 patients in serious condition aged 60 and under, 6.3 have not been vaccinated, 1 received only two doses, and 0.3 received both doses and the booster.
Out of every 100,000 patients in serious condition aged 60 and over, meanwhile, 131.3 have not been vaccinated against COVID at all, 20.5 received only two shots, and 2.1 received the booster as well.
The Education Ministry on Wednesday published the interim results of the ”Green Class” pilot, which is set to end on October 15, and allows students to continue studying in class even if a classmate was found positive for COVID.
According to the pilot’s results, out of the 129 classes tested, only 15 were found to have more than one COVID patient throughout the period during which the pilot program was conducted.