34 new virus cases confirmed in 24 hours, with total of 4,690 active cases

73 people in serious condition, of whom 64 are on ventilators; death toll at 254, 6 more than Sunday morning

By ToI Staff 11 May 2020, 1:13 pm

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A medical team member wearing protective gear takes a swab from a woman to test for the coronavirus at Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem on April 30, 2020 (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

The Health Ministry announced Monday morning that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases has risen to 16,492, an increase of 34 over the past 24 hours and 15 since Sunday night.

Six people died over the past day, taking the country’s death toll from COVID-19 to 254.

Seventy-three people are in serious conditions; of those, 64 are on respiratory ventilation, according to the ministry. A further 48 people were defined as being in moderate condition.

The number of active cases continued to decline, falling overnight by 47 to 4,690.

The latest tally came a day after Israel announced just 14 new cases in the previous 24 hours, the lowest number recorded since the Health Ministry began publishing daily updates on the spread of the virus on March 11.

An Israeli police officer wearing protective gear waits to detain ultra-Orthodox men after they pray in a synagogue in defiance of government measures to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, in Bnei Brak, a suburb of Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, April 2, 2020. ‏(AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Sunday, however, also saw a sharp drop in coronavirus tests conducted. After the daily number had consistently been over 8,000 for a week, there were just 2,982 tests on Sunday and 3,649 on Saturday.

Israel has the lab capacity to test up to 15,000 people for COVID-19 daily but demand has gone down, as fewer suspected cases show up to have swabs taken, the Health Ministry said last month.

Israel on Saturday evening marked two weeks since more than 200 virus cases were last recorded in any 24-hour period.

It also marked one week since there were more than 100 new cases in any single day.

After the Health Ministry announced no new deaths Saturday morning — the first time there were no fatalities during a 24-hour period since March 28 — the death toll then rose by seven in 36 hours.

Amid the sustained drop in infections, the government has increasingly rolled back restrictions meant to curb the outbreak, opening some schools and allowing many businesses to reopen, and was reportedly planning more such measures.