Since the beginning of January, 1,256,077 Israelis have tested for coronavirus, the Health Ministry Thursday night, accounting for 47.5% of the country's total caseload since the beginning of the pandemic two years ago.
Ministry data show 405,667 Israelis came down with the virus between Sunday and Thursday afternoon alone. Last week, that figure stood at 493,489 and is expected to be eclipsed by the weekend.
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Coronavirus ward at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem
(Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch)
For comparison, in January and February 2021 — the peak of the country's third wave of infections — 351,783 cases were confirmed.
Mounting cases have been attributed to the fast spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant.
Hospitals were treating 931 COVID-19 patients in serious condition compared to just 101 at the beginning of the month. The number of gravely ill patients connected to ventilators also ticked up and reached 212.
Tuesday saw the highest single-day leap in new severe cases, with 195 such cases recorded, topping the previous record set on January 25, 2021, on which 185 patients were hospitalized with a severe COVID-19 illness.
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Chevra Kadisha workers in hazmat suits prepare bodies of COVID-19 victims for burial
(Photo: EPA)
The ministry reported that 8,541 Israelis succumbed to complications of COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, 290 of them in January and six on Thursday alone.
Official data points to Israel's death coronavirus tally increasing by 20-22 people dying every day on average, but ministry officials conceded that these figures may be as much as double.
There are currently 480,501 active coronavirus carriers in Israel, most of them are quarantining at home and are displaying only mild or no symptoms at all.
Jerusalem leads the country in active cases with 39,901. The capital is then followed by Tel Aviv with 22,802 cases, Petah Tikva with 15,235, Rishon Lezion with 13,895 and Be'er Sheva with 13,562 active cases.