A total of 4,583 new COVID-19 cases were diagnosed Tuesday, Israel's Health Ministry reported Wednesday morning.
That number, while relatively stable in comparison to the past week, represents a slight rise from the 4,288 diagnosed Monday, the 4,100 diagnosed Sunday, and the 2,280 new cases diagnosed Saturday.
The new cases bring the total number of active cases nationwide to 32,480, and represent 8.92% of COVID-19 test results received Tuesday.
The number of hospitalized coronavirus patients continues its steady drop, and on Wednesday morning just reached 591, among whom are 222 patients in serious condition or worse, including 91 whose condition is critical.
Seven COVID-19 patients are on ECMO machines, and 79 are intubated.
Twelve people have died of coronavirus in the past week, bringing the total number of deaths to 10,647.
Despite the decline in almost all parameters, the coronavirus infection coefficient has reversed trend and is again on the rise: The lowest it reached was 0.7 for two days, before rising to 0.71 and then to 0.75.
The coefficient of a given day is published ten days later, and measures how many people an infected person is likely to pass the virus on to, on average. A number lower than 1.0 indicates that the pandemic is contracting, while a number above 1 indicates that the number of new infections daily is likely to rise.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday morning Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) announced their decision to cancel Israel's mask mandate in all but a select number of high-risk instances. The decision, set to take effect on Saturday night, is subject to the approval of the Knesset's Health Committee.