The coronavirus reproduction rate continued to rise in the past 24 hours and currently stands at 1.09, according to Health Ministry data published Wednesday. Of the 88,514 Israelis that were screened for the virus on Tuesday, 603 (0.74%) tested positive.
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There are currently 6,505 active cases in the country with 174 patients hospitalized. Of those, 124 are in serious condition.
Thus far, 4,056,586 Israelis have been fully vaccinated, 5,768,276 received two doses and 6,276,292 got their first jabs.
Israel has reported 1,340,320 coronavirus cases, including 8,178 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic last year.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett accompanied his son David as he received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine today.
"I call on all Israeli parents to come and have their children vaccinated. It is safe and it safeguards our children."https://t.co/aiFv5ylXhr pic.twitter.com/NRAQ1NcFSh
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) November 23, 2021
Also on Tuesday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett accompanied his nine-year-old son David to the Clalit Health Services clinic in Herzliya to receive his first vaccination dose, as Israel launched a national vaccination campaign in the morning for children between the ages of 5 and 11.
We have begun a nationwide campaign to vaccinate children in order to protect them. This safeguards both parents and children, and all of Israel. I call on all parents to have their children inoculated, Bennett said.
Speaking at a Coronavirus Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the ministry's Director of Public Health Services Dr. Sharon Elroi Preiss also encouraged parents to vaccinate their children.
"More than 3 million children [aged 12-15] have already been vaccinated and there were no reports of side effects. The risk of getting infected is much higher than getting vaccinated," she said.
Elroi Preiss also pointed out that "a small percentage of children" also develop the pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS).
"It is a severe syndrome that appears a few weeks after the child recovers from the virus. Loss of taste is evidence of an effect on the brain, and there is evidence that the coronavirus enters the brain and affects it."
Despite the rising morbidity rate, the committee decided not to reimpose restrictions on public life. Nevertheless, it extended the "green pass" vaccine certificate mandate for indoor gatherings for another two weeks.
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