The Health Ministry Thursday morning reported that 1,336 people have tested positive for COVID-19 out of 77,512 tests conducted over the previous 24 hours, putting Israel's infection rate stands at 1.74%.
Out of 9,673 active patients, 72 were in serious condition, 15 of them connected to ventilators. The death toll since the start of the pandemic stood at 6,455.
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A man being tested for coronavirus at a testing facility at Ben-Gurion Airport
(Photo: Avi Hai)
Some 120 of the new patients returned from abroad over the past 10 days.
The coronavirus cabinet was set to meet 1pm Thursday, with officials estimating that new restrictions are necessary in order to curb the surge in cases.
On Wednesday, Health Ministry Director General Prof. Nachman Ash said that he supports bringing back stricter health measures, including the Green Pass mandate, capsule learning at schools and mandatory quarantine for all returning travelers from abroad.
Prof. Ash told Ynet the so-called "Revelry Pass" order that came into effect on Wednesday morning is not enough to curb the spread of the Delta variant.
The mandate obliges anyone entering events attended by more than 100 people to present a Green Pass or a negative coronavirus test at the entrance.
"My professional stance is to take immediate steps. We think it is not right to wait, because it will be harder to stop when we reach larger numbers [of active cases]," he said.
"We are working very closely with the Education Ministry to formulate a plan that includes both coronavirus tests and a plan to prepare for situations, where there are more areas with high infection rates, where there is no choice but to reduce class sizes to prevent the spread."