Israel on Tuesday reported a decline in the tally of severely ill COVID patients as well as additional drop in virus' basic reproduction number.
The Health Ministry has reported a decline in seriously ill for the second straight day. As of Tuesday, 1,161 patients are said to be in serious condition, 100 less than the number recorded on Sunday. Of that number, 288 patients are connected to ventilators.
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A decline has also been recorded in the amount of new critically ill patients. On Monday, 182 critical patients were treated in hospitals, compared to 171 on Sunday, and 231 recorded on Monday of last week.
In the meantime, 43,852 positive cases were confirmed on Monday, with 3,382 of them having previously already recovered from the virus. This is the 36th day in a row in which Israeli has confirmed more than 10,000 cases per day. Since the beginning of the year, more than 1,875,619 cases have been confirmed.
The basic virus' reproduction number, R, also continues to drop in a moderate pace, standing at 0.82, which may signal the infection wave's downturn. The R number is the average number of secondary infections produced by a single infection carrier.
The Health Ministry also reported that 23 COVID patients passed away Monday, bringing the total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic to 9,226. Since the beginning of the month, 282 COVID patients died of the virus-related complications, hitting the Omicron wave's peak last Tuesday with 59 single-day deaths.
Meanwhile, vaccination rates continue to plummet. On Monday, only 285 Israelis received their first dose of the vaccine, as opposed to 443 on Sunday. On Saturday, only 61 Israelis received their first dose, which looks to be a direct outcome of the rolled back Green Pass mandate going in effect.
Only 2,237 Israelis got vaccinated in the last week, compared to 54,254 in the first week of January - decline of 96%.
At least 921 Israelis received their booster shots, and a total of 7,306 Israelis received the third dose of the jab in the first week of February. In the first week of January, on the other hand, 69,285 Israelis received the third dose, showing a decline of close to 90%.
In addition, of the 318 thousand active COVID cases, most of them appear to be in mild condition. The majority, 22,138, live in Jerusalem, 16,331 in Tel Aviv, 10,615 in Haifa, 10,036 in Petah Tikva, 9,664 in Be'er Sheva, 9,033 in Rishon Lezion, 7,827 in Netanya, 7,214 in Ashdod, 6,742 in Ashkelon, 6,688 in Holon, 5,427 in Rehovot, and 5,425 in Ramat Gan.
The Health Ministry said that 19,296 of Monday's confirmed cases were school students, and 119,416 of the total active cases are schoolchildren as well.