Israel records 11,000 new COVID-19 cases

Israel has announced nearly 11,000 new Coronavirus cases within the past day, in spite of the country’s vaccination campaign.

There were 10,947 new cases registered in the past day, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

The latest figure was higher than the previous record, dating back to mid-January, when officials announced some 10,100 cases.

More than one million infections have been reported in Israel, a nation of 9.4 million people.

The number of seriously ill people has, however, fallen slightly to 719 on Tuesday.

According to the latest figures so far, more than 7,000 people have died of COVID-19 in Israel.

Scientists continue to emphasise that the vaccine against COVID-19 remained effective in preventing serious illness and deaths.

The Israel’s vaccination campaign relied exclusively on the Pfizer/BioNTech shot.

The country was the first to roll out booster jabs, and so far, two million people have received their third shot while nearly 59 per cent have received two doses of the vaccine.

Israel was offering the third shots to everyone aged 12 and above, but herd immunity remained difficult to reach, with some 2.13 million children under 12 who can only be vaccinated in exceptional cases.

Israel decided to roll out third vaccinations based on Health Ministry figures suggesting the vaccine’s effectiveness had declined sharply since the beginning of June among those who had received the first round of jabs.

Meanwhile, the country is battling with the spread of the more contagious Delta variant and experts fear that the start of the school year on Wednesday could lead to further spike in cases.

More than 90,000 children and young people cannot go to school or kindergarten because they are currently ill or in quarantine, according to media reports.

NAN