Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
Some 3,389 Israelis were confirmed with COVID-19 on Friday and an additional 1,164 were found to be infected on Saturday, according to information released Sunday by the Military Intelligence taskforce at the Health Ministry.
After 18,000 tests conducted on Saturday, the positivity rate was found to be 6.4%.
Of those confirmed over the weekend, 75% were under the age of 39 as hospitals report a growing number of people under the age of 60 are suffering from serious complications of the virus.
There are currently 847 Israelis with COVID who are hospitalized in serious condition.
Even so 50% of new cases detected in the past week were found in the over-60 population; 30% were from the 40-59 age group and 10% were from the 20-39 age group.
The R factor that determines the spread of coronavirus in the community was found to be 0.79, indicating a drop in contagion from the virus.
The Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem said Sunday that a 32-year-old woman in her third trimester of pregnancy and her unborn child both died after the mother was hospitalized with COVID-19.
The hospital said an emergency operation to deliver the child failed to keep him alive after his mother's health deteriorated overnight.
The Health Ministry on Sunday reiterated the need to observe mitigation regulations in light of businesses reopening to the public and ahead of the Purim holiday celebrations that will begin at the end of the week.
4 View gallery
Shoppers line up to enter a Tel Aviv mall under health mitigation restrictions
(Photo: Ido Erez)
High street shops, malls, museums and libraries opened their doors to the public under some health restrictions, after being shuttered for Israel's third lockdown imposed in December.
Gyms, theaters, museums, swimming pools and theatres are open only to those able to show that they had received two doses of the coronavirus vaccine or have recovered from the disease.
4 View gallery
A woman receives her coronavirus vaccine at a mobile vaccination unit in Jaffa
(Photo: AFP)
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said Sunday that more than 3.2 million Israelis are immune to COVID-19 and are free to enter gyms, hotels and cultural events.
"Thus far out of 4,300,000 vaccines administered, more than 3 million have already received two doses of the vaccine," Edelstein said.