Israel on Tuesday said nearly 500 coronavirus patients are in severe condition but failed to report the tally of daily cases due to "overloads" on its systems.
The Health Ministry has not updated figures on Israel's tally of new COVID infections for the third consecutive day, claiming their computer systems were unable to process the surging amounts of new cases.
Still, tens of thousands of Israelis received notifications from the Health Ministry that they had contracted COVID-19.
According to the ministry, 498 people were in serious or critical condition in hospitals, receiving treatment for complications of the virus, 100 on them on ventilators, indicating a rise of more than 10% since Sunday.
More than 900 people were hospitalized in mild or moderate condition, some receiving care for non-COVID related symptoms.
Since the start of the pandemic, 8340 people succumbed to the virus, 22 since Sunday.
The ministry also said that 558,661 elderly or at-risk Israelis received the fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine thus far. The rate of vaccinations has slowed since Sunday.
On Monday, the Sheba Medical Center released a study, indicating that the fourth dose of the vaccine was less effective against the Omicron variant of the pathogen.
Earlier on Tuesday, the ministry said that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz agreed to provide up to 30 million antigen rapid testing kits to school students and other sectors of the population, starting next week.
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Rapid COVID testing kits arrive in Israel at the beginning of the month
(Photo: Airport Baggage Department )
The ministry was also expected to institute changes to its Green Pass policy due to the Omicron variant's ability to infect vaccinated people.
The panel of medical experts advising the government on the pandemic did not approve any change to the existing policies, but will take up the matter at a future date.