Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Sunday, August 15, 2021

Active COVID cases set to pass 50,000, just 2 months after they were around 200

15 August 2021, 4:28 pm Edit

As the Delta variant wreaks havoc in Israel and around the world, here’s one eye-catching statistic: Active cases are almost at 50,000 now, while they were at around 200 exactly two months ago.

Despite Israel’s world-leading vaccination drive earlier this year, the new, relatively vaccine-resistant strain has taken the country from just 221 active cases on June 15 to 49,608 today, according to Health Ministry figures.

The rise has been milder in fatalities, but still, while there were 14 COVID-19 deaths in the first two weeks of July, that has leaped to 158 in the first two weeks of August.