The coronavirus infection rate jumped in Israel by an alarming 73% in just one week, data released by the Health Ministry on Friday revealed.
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The ministry also reported that of the 106,647 Israelis it screened for the virus on Thursday, 1,482 (1.4%) tested positive. Of those, 387 are returnees from abroad.
The reproduction rate continued to inch up and currently stands at 1.36, the highest it has been since August.
The number of active cases crossed the 10,000 threshold on Thursday and now stands at 10,526. Currently, 129 Israelis are hospitalized, of whom 88 are in serious condition. According to data, 80.5% of the seriously ill have not been vaccinated at all.
Israel has reported 1,361,886 cases, including 8,241 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic last year. Thirty-nine of the deaths occurred in December.
Thus far, 4,184,491 Israelis have been inoculated with three vaccine shots, 5,868,003 received two jabs and 6,493,317 got one dose. On Thursday, 11,354 Israelis got vaccinated, mostly children ages 5-11.
The Tel Aviv Municipality launched a vaccination campaign for elementary school students on Thursday.
Officials warned that a fifth coronavirus wave was imminent as the Omicron variant continued to circulate throughout the country, prompting cities to consider expanding immunization campaigns.
"We are on the verge of a fifth wave of the pandemic, which may be more intense than the previous ones," Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai cautioned.
"It is important that we show mutual and personal responsibility, so, this week we will start vaccinating children over the age of 6, in schools and during school hours – just like all other children's vaccines given in schools. Do not say - it will not happen to us. The children need to be vaccinated!" he said.
Thus far, around 150 eligible elementary school students have been immunized, according to a press release on the program.
Starting Sunday, the rollout will be expanded to administer doses during school hours, with vaccine sites set up at some schools during the afternoon.
Also on Thursday, the United States Food and Drug Administration authorized a second pill against the coronavirus, providing another easy-to-use medication to battle the rising tide of Omicron infections.
The announcement on Merck drug manufacturer's molnupiravir comes a day after the agency cleared a competing drug from Pfizer.
Pfizer's pill, Paxlovid, is likely to become the first-choice treatment against the virus, because of its superior benefits and milder side effects.
As a result, Merck's pill is expected to have a lesser role against the pandemic than predicted just a few weeks ago. Its ability to head off severe COVID-19 is much smaller than initially announced and the drug label will warn of serious safety issues, including the potential for birth defects.
Both treatments will be free to patients in the US after being purchased by the federal government.
The FDA authorized Merck's drug for adults with a positive COVID-19 test, early symptoms, and who face the highest risks of hospitalization, including older people and those with conditions like obesity and heart disease.
The agency said molnupiravir should be considered for patients "for whom alternative COVID-19 treatment options authorized by the FDA are not accessible or clinically appropriate." It did not include that restriction for Paxlovid, which was authorized for patients 12 and older.
Molnupiravir, made by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, will also carry a warning against use during pregnancy. Women of childbearing age should use birth control during treatment and for a few days after while men should use birth control for at least three months after their final dose, the FDA said. The federal agency also said molnupiravir should not be used in patients under age 18 because it may affect bone growth.
Dr. Nick Kartsonis, Merck's senior vice president of clinical research, said company scientists are still studying the drug and they hope to eventually get it approved for use in children.
Additionally, Pfizer's drug was roughly three times more effective in testing, reducing hospitalization and death by nearly 90% among high-risk patients, compared with 30% for Merck's.
Some experts question whether there will be much of a role for the Merck drug in the US.
"To the extent that there's an ample supply of Pfizer's pill, I think it won't be used," Dr. Gregory Poland of the Mayo Clinic said. "There would be no reason, given it has less efficacy and a higher risk of side effects."
For now, the FDA decision provides another potential option against the virus that has killed more than 800,000 Americans – and over five million people worldwide – even as health officials brace for record-setting cases, hospitalizations, and deaths driven by Omicron.
The seven-day rolling average for US COVID-19 cases climbed past 160,000 on Wednesday, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. That's more than double the average in late November.
Antiviral pills like Merck's and Pfizer's are expected to be effective against Omicron because they don't target the spike protein where most of the variant's worrisome mutations reside.
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Researchers have warned that older COVID-19 treatments that are administered by IV are unlikely to work against the new strain.
The FDA based its Merck decision on results showing nearly 7% of patients taking the drug ended up in the hospital and one died at the end of 30 days. That compared with 10% of patients hospitalized who were taking the placebo and nine deaths.
Merck says several hundred thousand treatment courses will be available in the US in the next several days and a million will be available over the next few weeks. The supply of Pfizer's drug is more limited before ramping up in 2022.
The US will pay about $700 for each course of Merck's drug, which requires patients to take four pills twice a day for five days. A review by Harvard University and King's College London estimated it costs about $18 to make each 40-pill course of treatment.
Merck's drug inserts tiny errors into the coronavirus' genetic code to slow its reproduction. That genetic effect has raised concerns that the drug could cause mutations in human fetuses and even spur more virulent strains of the virus. But FDA scientists said the variant risk is largely theoretical because people take the drug for such a short period of time.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
