Israel’s Health Ministry reported 763 new coronavirus cases in the previous 24 hours on Sunday morning. The number of new cases on Sunday and Monday is always lower than the rest of the week due to the reduced amount of testing performed over Shabbos.

The number of active patients is currently 24,433, with 395 seriously ill patients, of whom 118 are ventilated. The number of ventilated patients has increased by 25% in the past nine days. Five more fatalities were recorded overnight, raising the death toll to 597.

The number of hospitalized patients has soared to 859, up from 783 a week ago.

The Health Ministry stated on Sunday that it has allocated about NIS 4 billion to ensure that an average of 60,000 coronavirus tests can be carried out in the next year and a half.

The funds will be divided over several contracts, including an expansion of the contract with the MyHeritage lab, increasing its daily tests from 10,000 to 20,000, as well as two private labs.

One of the members of the Israeli research delegation that traveled to India was confirmed to be positive for the coronavirus while on the way home to Israel.

The diagnosis was confirmed when the plane was refueling in Ethiopia, Ynet reported. Apparently the delegation members had been tested for the coronavirus prior to leaving India but the plane had departed before the results were received.

The coronavirus carrier was placed in a separate area of the plane and the plane continued to Israel.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)