Active COVID-19 cases dip below 10,000, but test positivity rising

Active coronavirus cases in Israel dropped below 10,000 and serious cases dipped under 400 for the first time in weeks, according to Health Ministry figures updated on Sunday night.

But the numbers also indicated a possible reversal of the downward trend in coronavirus infections, showing the rate of positive tests had risen from around two percent throughout the week to 2.9% Saturday and 3.5% on Sunday.

The figure for Sunday is not final, however, and the percentage for Saturday was also taken out of a small number of tests — fewer than 8,000, as is typical for the weekend, when testing rates plummet — after days in which as many as 40,000 samples were examined.

Israel’s basic reproduction number, or the rate of new cases stemming from each positive test, stood at 0.75 on Sunday evening, with Health officials telling the Kan public broadcaster that if it crosses 0.8, they will recommend scaling back some of the steps taken to ease the lockdown. Commercial stores are slated to reopen to customers next week, but health officials said they would push to keep them shuttered if case numbers continue to rise.

The Health Ministry figures also showed that the death toll had gone up by 13 since Sunday morning, to 2,553.

The total number of cases since the start of the pandemic stood at 314,943.

The number of active cases was 9,680, with 394 patients in serious condition, 168 of them on ventilators. Another 118 were in moderate condition, while the rest were showing mild or no symptoms.

Earlier Sunday, the cabinet endorsed new regulations increasing the fines for violations of coronavirus lockdown restrictions, but, under pressure from ultra-Orthodox parties, deferred the matter for discussion the following day by the so-called coronavirus cabinet before it would be advanced to the Knesset for final approval.

After over a month of national lockdown that succeeded in curbing high infection rates, but also paralyzed much of the economy and public life, the government has struggled to agree on how to ease the restrictions, with pressure from some ministers to quickly lift the closure facing opposition by other cabinet members — among them the prime minister — who want to move more cautiously.