Israel's COVID reproduction rate has dropped from 1.12 to 1.06, the Health Ministry reported Monday.
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While the reason for the drop in the reproduction rate was still unclear, the virus was still spreading, the ministry reported, with 444 new cases confirmed in the past 24 hours. As of Monday, there were 5,746 active or symptomatic cases, including 96 patients listed in serious condition. Of those 96, 60 were in critical condition, 51 were on ventilators, and 18 were on ECMO machines.
On Sunday, some 7,300 Israelis received a first dose of the COVID vaccine. Another 5,100 rolled up their sleeves for booster shots. Both these numbers are higher than the average numbers of daily vaccinations recorded last week.
As of Monday morning, over 6.4 million Israelis had received at least a first dose of the vaccine. A total of 5,790,736 had received two doses and over 4.1 million had received the original two doses of the vaccine as well as booster shots.
However, the campaign to vaccinate children appears to be faltering. Data obtained by Israel Hayom indicates that three weeks into the project to vaccinate children ages five to 11, only some 110,000 youngsters have been vaccinated – approximately 10% of the country's children.
On Sunday, there were 67 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in Israel. However, health officials are worried about another 80 cases in which people might have been exposed to the variant but have yet to receive test results.
Since the COVID pandemic hit Israel in early 2020, it has claimed the lives of 8,216 people.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization warned Sunday that the Omicron variant appeared to spread more than the Delta variant, cause less severe symptoms and make vaccines less effective. However, the WHO stressed that the data remained very patchy.
i24NEWS contributed to this report
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