A total of 9,891 new cases of the coronavirus were diagnosed across Israel Tuesday, according to data released by the Health Ministry Wednesday morning, up from 9,831 new cases reported Monday, and surpassing the recent high of 8,766 a week ago.
That is the largest number of new cases reported in a single day since January 2021.
The percentage of tests coming back positive rose from 6.63% Monday to 6.69% Tuesday, after plateauing last week.
There are now 77,956 known active cases of the virus across Israel, up from 72,572 on Tuesday.
Despite the rise in the number of cases, however the number of hospitalizations actually fell, declining from 1,142 hospitalized COVID patients on Monday and 1,124 Tuesday to 1,118 on Wednesday.
The number of seriously ill patients held steady Wednesday at 692. Of those, 172 are in critical condition, with 129 on respirators. The number of patients in critical condition rose from 168 from Tuesday, while the number on respirators went up from 123 on Tuesday.
Thus far, a total of 6,880 coronavirus-related fatalities have been recorded across Israel, including 10 deaths on Tuesday.
According to the most recent demographic data released by the Ministry of Health on COVID victims, the 321 patients who succumbed to the virus from August 1st through the 25th were all above the age of 30, with the vast majority over the age of 70.
A total of 90 (21.8%) were over 90, 191 (46.4%) were in their 80s, with 86 (20.9%) in their 70s, and 35 (8.5%) in their 60s, 8 (1.9%) in their 50s, one (0.2%) in the 40-49 age bracket, and one in the 30-39 age group.