After becoming world No. 1 in new COVID cases per capita, Israel continues to set new highs

One week after hitting No. 1 in the world in new daily COVID-19 cases per capita, Israel continued to set new highs blowing its previous records out of the water with more than 10% of its entire population infected this month alone.

Israel was once one of the highest COVID-19 vaccinated nations. Now the vaccination rate varies according to age, but Israel led the way in August with a booster of the Pfizer vaccine and again led the way last month when it began offering a fourth shot to individuals with a compromised immune system. Eligibility has expanded to everyone over 60 and now more than 600,000 Israelis have taken the fourth jab. Just today, an expert panel recommended that the Health Ministry start offering a fourth shot to the general population from 18 years old.

Nevertheless, the virus is rampaging here. Last week, in just three days Israel recorded 200,000 infections – 10% of total infections since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.

Yesterday nearly a quarter of all people who tested for COVID on Sunday were found positive, setting a new daily record of nearly 84,000 new infections in one day.

Though Omicron seems to have milder symptoms in general, and assuming that this variant dominates this particular wave, some 845 patients are in serious condition with COVID, a jump from just 200 last month.

More than 20% of the Israeli population has had COVID – and the latest wave does not yet appear to be waning.