The number of seriously ill Israelis who are hospitalized with complications from COVID-19 continued to drop on Thursday, the Health Ministry said.
There are currently 619 people in serious condition – the lowest number since August 20 and down from 713 last week.
Among those in serious condition, approximately 73% were not vaccinated and only 6.6% had received three doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
On Wednesday, 3,079 new cases of COVID were confirmed after 80,000 tests conducted, indicating nearly a 4% infection rate, slightly higher than in the previous two days.
After nine people died on Thursday, the fatality rate since the beginning of September has reached 652, and since the start of the pandemic, it now stands on 7,761
There are 50 towns and villages classified as red because of high morbidity, most of them in the Arab sector, where schools were not on break for the Jewish High Holidays.
On Thursday, Jewish Israeli children returned to school after their holiday break and officials voiced their concern over the possibility that contagion might increase once again.
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Children line up to get their coronavirus vaccines in Tel Aviv earlier this year
(Photo: Uriel Cohen)
The Health Ministry released a report on the possible side effects of vaccines in children ages 12 to 15 on Thursday, saying that that only 11 children out of more than three hundred thousand who had received the coronavirus vaccine, suffered from myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, and that no other severe side effects were reported.