Covid in Israel: Reproduction rate continues downward trend
Number of patients hospitalized in serious condition also declines
The reproduction rate, or R value, in Israel is continuing its downward trend, indicating that the spread of Covid-19 is slowing down, according to Wednesday's Health Ministry update.
The coefficient of infection for the coronavirus stands at 1.09 based on the weekly average from 10 days ago.
A number above one means that the virus is spreading.
The number of patients hospitalized in serious condition is also down, with 265 people seriously ill, of which 102 are listed as critical and 102 on artificial ventilation.
Israel registered 12,093 new cases over the previous 24-hour period out of 70,771 tests administered to check for the virus, for a positive test rate of 17.09 percent.
The total number of active coronavirus cases in the country stands at 74,025.
Over 4.4 million people in Israel have received at least three vaccine doses, with 758,345 people getting jabbed four times.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz decided last week not to impose new restrictions despite the rise in cases.
Bennett and Horowitz agreed that, given the genetic similarity between the increasingly dominant omicron variant known as BA.2 and the "original" omicron variant BA.1, and the large number of Israelis infected with the latter, no new restrictions were necessary.