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For the first time in nearly three, Israel recorded over 2,000 new coronavirus cases on Monday so far, with several hours still to go in the day.
The Health Ministry reported that out of some 77,000 tests conducted over the day so far, 2,007 returned positive, putting the infection rate at 2.6%.
The last time more than 2,000 new cases were recorded in a day was October 10, when 2,343 new cases were confirmed.
Officials said that it is likely that Israel could surpass 3,000 infections by the end of the day.
However, serious hospitalizations remain steady, dropping slightly from 87 reported Monday morning to 84.
According to the ministry, close to 87% of severely ill are unvaccinated. The unvaccinated also accounted for over 95% of all severe cases in the under 60 age group.
In total, 134 patients are hospitalized, out of over 14,000 active cases nationwide.
Surging morbidity is largely attributed to the rapid spread of the new Omicron variant throughout the country, cases of which are doubling every two and a half days according to Health Ministry data presented to the government Monday morning.
According to the findings, 50% of all virus carriers who went through an epidemiological interrogation were infected with the new strain.
As of Saturday evening, 1,118 Omicron cases were detected in Israel, 723 of which in travelers returning from abroad, but estimates place that figure much higher.
A representative of the National Coronavirus Information and Knowledge Center warned that while confirmed daily cases of the Delta variant took a month to break 1,000, the highly contagious Omicron strain could top 100,00 daily cases within a month at its current spread rate.
Separately on Monday, the Health Ministry recommended that Israel drastically reduce the number of countries that travel to and from is banned due to the Omicron coronavirus variant from 60 to 15.
According to the ministry, the list is set to no longer include most of Africa, as well as Italy, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium and Finland.
However, health officials did recommend designating Mexico as a "red" country.
The U.S., France, the UK, the UAE, Turkey and Canada will also remain on the list for now.