Just under 3,000 Israelis were reported to have been infected with COVID-19 over the weekend, continuing the downward trend seen in recent weeks, with 613 patients classified in serious condition, down from 675 the day before. The positivity test rate is at 2.9%.
In addition, the Military Intelligence Directorate reported on Friday that the current R rate in Israel – the rate which measures the ability of the disease to spread, indicating how many other people each person carrying the virus will infect – is at 0.83.
There were 2,386 coronavirus cases diagnoses on Friday out of 84,286 tests that were conducted according to the Health Ministry's Saturday report. Another 409 Israelis tested positive from midnight on Friday night, bringing the total number to 2,795.
The current number of active cases stands at 35,593, among which 626 are in critical condition and 214 are intubated. The death toll, ever-nearing the 6,000 mark, currently stands at 5,988.The Health Ministry also reported that some 91% of those hospitalized in coronavirus wards were not vaccinated against the virus.
In lighter news however, 5,125,054 have received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, while 4,120,276 have received their second dose.Some 100,000 Israelis have only received the first dose if the coronavirus vaccine but did not show up for the second dose, N12 reported, representing around 2% of the population.
The directorate additionally noted that the vaccine is particularly effective for those recovering from COVID-19, because they are at a high risk of reinfection with the various variants running rampant such as the South African variant and the Brazilian variant. The Health Ministry reported that some of these people may have suffered from side effects from the first vaccine, and were scared to return for the second dose.