The coronavirus infection rate stands at 0.73% in Israel, according to Health Ministry data published Thursday morning. Of the 88,751 Israelis screened for the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, 605 tested positive.
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There are currently 6,606 active cases in the country, with 170 patients hospitalized. Of those, 122 are in serious condition.
The reproduction rate decreased from 1.09 to 1.08 on Wednesday.
Israel has reported 1,340,481 cases, including 8,180 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Thus far, 4,058,317 Israelis over the age of 16 have been fully vaccinated, 5,768,957 received two jabs and 6,278,664 got their first dose.
Since the launch of the children's vaccination campaign on Tuesday, 12,300 kids ages 5-11 got inoculated with the first dose, of the 1.2 million children eligible.
Meanwhile, researchers identified a new coronavirus variant with an "extremely high" number of mutations and ability to evade vaccines, according to a report by British daily i.
The B.1.1.529 strain was first spotted in Botswana, southern Africa. It has since been reported in South Africa and Hong Kong. It was exported from South Africa to Hong Kong by a tourist. Altogether, 10 cases in these three countries have been confirmed.
The variant has 32 spike mutations. In contrast, the Delta mutation, which is now dominant in the world, has 16. Spike mutations is what allows the virus to become more transmissible, evade antibodies and become more deadly.
B.1.1.529 was identified on Tuesday by Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, who described the mutation profile as "really awful" and "horrific."
Nevertheless, it is unknown whether B.1.1.529 could beat Delta's dominance.
Meanwhile, a drug made by Israeli biotechnology company Bonus BioGroup showed impressive results in Phase 2 clinical trials with a patient survival rate of 94%.
According to data released this week, 47 out of 50 patients hospitalized in serious condition who received up to three doses of the company's cell therapy MesenCure survived.
The trial was conducted at the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, as well as the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot and the Baruch Padeh Medical Center in Tiberias.
The treatment was also found to shorten hospital stays by eight days. Bonus BioGroup is seeking emergency use authorization for the drug in Israel and is continuing the Phase 3 clinical trials.
"We hope that after we get the approval in Israel, it will be accepted more easily in the United States and Europe," Dr. Tomer Bronshtein, head of research at Bonus BioGroup, told Fox News.
In related news, following a Coronavirus Cabined decision, tourists traveling to Israel will now be able to board flights by presenting an antigen test taken within 72 hours before departure, in addition to the previous measure of taking a PCR test 24 hours before the flight.
The obligation to take a PCR test upon arrival at Ben-Gurion International Airport remains intact.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
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