Coronavirus Commissioner Prof. Salman Zarka clarified Monday in light of the easing coronavirus restrictions that there is no national policy of seeking herd immunity through infection.

In a briefing to reporters, Zarka said that "if anyone thinks of herd immunity - it has no scientific basis."

"The peak of the wave is ahead of us, the rise in morbidity is rapid. We are in the midst of a combined wave - Delta is still here and many recently hospitalized patients have contracted that strain. The information on the fourth dose is limited, but we recommend getting vaccinated."

Prof. Zarka explained that the effectiveness of the vaccine in protecting against the new strain is not optimal, but it does protect against serious illness. "Information on the fourth vaccine is limited, but we think there is a significant added protection, especially for the at-risk population and especially when the vaccine is safe."

"We are examining the possibility that unvaccinated people will do an antigen test instead of PCR after exposure to verified carriers. We will make a decision on the matter in the coming days," he said. "The Omicron wave will unfortunately continue to rise. The hope is that along with the rapid rise there will also be a rapid decline within a few weeks."

Sunday saw the diagnosis of 6,562 new coronavirus cases, for a total of 37,675 active cases nationwide, Israel's Health Ministry said Monday morning.

Among the COVID-19 patients are 203 who are hospitalized, including 110 whose condition is serious. Of those, 45 are in critical condition, 35 are intubated, and 16 are on ECMO (heart and lung) machines.

Nearly 5% (4.83%) of coronavirus test results received Sunday were positive, a significant rise from 3.94% on Friday. The infection coefficient on Thursday - the last day for which it is recorded - was 1.88, indicating a continued and significant expansion of the scope of the pandemic.

Two people have died of coronavirus in the past week, bringing the death toll to 8,244.