Israel's coronavirus infection coefficient is continuing to rise, the country's Health Ministry reported Tuesday morning.
On Monday, 6,521 new coronavirus cases were diagnosed, for a total of 35,810 active cases around the country.
As of Tuesday morning, 795 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized, among them 340 who are in serious condition or worse. Included in that count are 170 patients whose condition is critical, and 148 who are on ventilators. Twenty-three (23) other patients are on ECMO (heart and lung) machines.
Though the Health Ministry's official data dashboard showed the coronavirus infection coefficient as reaching 0.88 on March 4, the last day for which information is available, other reports placed the infection coefficient at 0.91.
Meanwhile, the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests out of the total number of tests on a given day continues to drop: On Monday, just 9.65% of coronavirus tests were positive. This number, however, is easily influenced by a larger percentage of those exposed or symptomatic undergoing official tests, versus a more limited segment more likely to test positive undergoing official tests only when required to do so.
Since the start of the pandemic, 10,392 people have died of coronavirus in Israel, including three who died on Monday.