The IDF coronavirus task force warned Monday that the recent rise in new COVID-19 infections could indicate that the downward trend seen in the spread of the virus has come to a halt.
According to Health Ministry figures, 649 new coronavirus cases were diagnosed on Sunday and that the death toll had gone up by one overnight, to 2,554.
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Positivity rate reached 3.1%, the ministry said, compared to 2.9% of tests returned on Saturday, 2.1% of tests from Friday, and 1.8% of tests from Thursday.
"This probably indicates that the downward morbidity trend is slowing down or potentially coming to halt," the task force warned, noting that there was still a decline in the number of fatalities and patients in serious condition compared to last week.
Israel has recorded 315,131 corona cases since the pandemic erupted in mid-March. As of Sunday, the number of active cases stood at 9,800, with 372 patients in serious condition, and 170 of them on ventilators.
Also on Sunday, an Israeli health official said the country will take part in European and Australian coronavirus vaccine trials.
Eytan Ben-Ami, head of early phase clinical trials at Sheba Medical Center. told local media that Israeli volunteers will be selected to participate in COVID vaccine trials run by unnamed companies in Australia and Europe. The trials are set to begin in the coming weeks.
"Thousands of people will be participating in these trials," Ben-Ami told The Jerusalem Post. "We hope that in the very near future we will have various vaccine options for our population."
The European trial, like the IIBR trial that kicked off Sunday morning with two volunteers at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem and at Sheba, is a Phase I/II trial. The Australian trial is in Phase III.
He said he does not foresee the Australian and European trials interfering with Israel's own vaccine trial.
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