As the Omicron coronavirus variant continues to spread across Israel, new Health Ministry data released Wednesday shows the reproduction rate has increased from 1.02 to 10.7.
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Of the 115,516 Israelis who tested for the virus Tuesday, 786 were found to have the disease, the highest number of daily cases confirmed since Oct. 25. There are currently 5,981 active coronavirus cases in the country.
At 0.75%, the infection rate is also the highest recorded in Israel over the last two weeks. The number of people seriously ill with COVID-19, however, has declined to 102. Of those in serious condition, 59 are on ventilators.
While 1,333,515 Israelis have recovered from the virus since the outbreak of the pandemic, 8,210 have died.
To date, 21 cases of the Omicron variant have been identified in the Jewish state, 16 of which were confirmed in individuals who had returned from South Africa, England, France, and the United Arab Emirates, and five of which were found to have contracted the disease from those who had returned from South Africa and the US.
Of the 21 cases, eight were either unvaccinated, had recovered from the virus over six months ago, or had received a second dose of the vaccine over six months ago. Thirteen of the infected individuals were fully vaccinated with three vaccine doses according to Health Ministry recommendations.
A World Health Organization study carried out in South Africa found Omicron to be more effective at circumventing antigens produced by Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine, according to a Bloomberg report. According to a separate report by the UK's Sky News, the study found antibodies produced by the vaccine to be 40 times less effective at protecting from the variant compared to the original form of the virus.
The WHO study findings found that the variant was incapable of completely evading antibodies and that a booster vaccine dose could provide further protection from the disease. Researchers found Omcicron to be between five and 10 times more likely to get around vaccine antibodies than the Beta variant that was also detected in South Africa.
Researchers noted the study was relatively small and said further research was necessary to ascertain vaccine efficacy against the variant.
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