Israel's current coronavirus infection rate stands at 6.6%, according to Health Ministry data released Sunday, as 10,084 of the 165,299 people who tested for the virus Saturday were found to have COVID-19.
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The reproduction increased slightly to 0.96.
The number of weekly infections dropped 17% to 54,628 from 65,887 the previous week.
Although 1,077,784 people have recovered from the virus since the outbreak of the pandemic, 7,338 have died.
For every 100,000 people, 169 unvaccinated Israelis aged 60 and over are in serious condition with the virus, compared to 4.5 among those in the same age group who have been inoculated against the disease.
The number of Israelis in serious condition remains stable at 697. Of those 697, 154 are on ventilators.
Over the weekend, 1,439 Israeli returning from religious pilgrimages over the Rosh Hashanah holiday to the Ukranian city of Uman tested positive for the virus. Dozens of such pilgrims were found to have falsified negative coronavirus test results to return to the country.
As for Israel's education system, 155,246 students are currently in quarantine, 40,566 of whom have tested positive for COVID-19.
On the vaccination front, over 6,037,005 Israelis have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, while over 5,538,992 have received two doses. Nearly 3 million Israelis – 2,816,096 – have received three doses.
Professor Galia Rahav, who heads Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer's Infectious Disease Unit told Israel Hayom the situation at hospitals across the country has brought her to tears in recent days.
Rahav, who is considered one of the most experienced in Israel when it comes to treating coronavirus patients, said: "I feel like Don Quixote, but the morbidity from coronavirus here is insufferable and very difficult," she said. "There aren't enough emergency room beds for intubated coronavirus patients. I am called for a lot of consultations, and in some of the hospital coronavirus wards, they don't know enough about treating intubated patients. Patients who weren't given a chance to live die because there aren't enough beds and ICU staff. I see this at a lot of hospitals. It's heartbreaking."
According to Rahav, "Sixty to 70% of seriously ill patients aren't vaccinated, but in the ICU wards, they want to first treat younger patients, a majority of whom are unvaccinated. And in some instances, they take the spots of patients who were vaccinated, who are much older, and it is very infuriating.
Rahav's remarks follow a Sept. 2 Israel Hayom report in which senior physicians at government-run hospitals across the country warned coronavirus patients were "paying were the lives" as hospitals were pushed past capacity, leaving inadequately trained staff to treat those in their care.
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