A closed shopping mall is seen during a third full lockdown amid COVID-19 pandemic in Jerusalem, Jan. 22. 2021. (Photo by Muammar Awad/Xinhua)
JERUSALEM, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Ministry of Health reported 6,735 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the tally in the country to 589,028.
The death toll from the COVID-19 in Israel reached 4,266 after 34 new fatalities were added, while the number of patients in serious condition increased from 1,156 to 1,182, out of 1,822 hospitalized patients.
This figure marked a new record of patients in serious condition since the outbreak of the disease in the country in late February 2020.
The total recoveries rose to 504,820, with 8,035 newly recovered cases, while the active cases decreased to 79,942.
According to the ministry, the number of people vaccinated against the COVID-19 in Israel has surpassed 2.46 million, or 26.5 percent of its total population, since the vaccination campaign began on Dec. 20, 2020.
Israel's COVID-19 reproduction number, also known as the R number, has dropped to 0.95, according to the country's Coronavirus National Information and Knowledge Center.
The R number is an indicator used to determine how fast COVID-19 is spreading, as an R number less than 1 means the spread of the pandemic has been curbed.
The R number in Israel stood at 1.26 on Dec. 27, 2020, the day when the ongoing nationwide COVID-19 lockdown began, and has since gradually dropped. Enditem
