The death toll in Israel stands at 4,796, with preliminary figures showing 1,433 of those fatalities in January — just under 30 percent. The figure is expected to be updated and rise further.
Infection rates remain high with 5,140 new cases confirmed on Sunday, and the test positivity rate at 9.7%. Total cases reached 646,277, including 68,331 active cases. Of them, 1,140 patients are in serious condition, including 390 in critical condition and 315 on ventilators.
Striking a positive note, the report said there was a reduction in the number of new cases and serious patients over the age of 60, a fall it said could be attributed to the widespread vaccination campaign, which kicked off with that age group.
The figures were released after the cabinet voted to extend the nationwide lockdown, which has closed nonessential businesses and most schools for the past month, until Friday morning at 7 a.m.
Ben Gurion International Airport will stay shut until Sunday, with the cabinet deciding to reimpose from Tuesday a mandatory quarantine in state-run hotels on those allowed to enter the country.
Ministers are set to meet on Wednesday to decide whether to extend the lockdown, Israel’s third since the start of the pandemic, even longer. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been pushing for at least a week’s extension and Defense Minister Benny Gantz insisted it end no later than Thursday.
Finance Minister Israel Katz on Monday called for all commerce to be opened as soon as the lockdown ends, pushing back against the claim by Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kisch a day earlier that the lockdown had saved 2,000 lives.
Also Sunday, the Knesset passed a bill stepping up enforcement of the lockdown by doubling fines for violators. Gantz and his Blue and White party had demanded the measure pass before holding the meeting on the lockdown extension, putting them at odds with Netanyahu’s Haredi allies in the coalition.
