Expert: Omicron Infects Third of Israelis within Weeks

One of Israel's top health experts has warned that nearly a third of Israelis will be infected with the Omicron mutant within the next three weeks.

Today, Thursday, the Israeli Ministry of Health announced the registration of 16,115 new cases of coronavirus (known also as COVID-19).

The ministry indicated - according to what was reported by the Israeli newspaper "Jerusalem Post" on its website - that 134 people were in serious condition, including 41 of them on respirators.

The total number of infected cases in Israel reached one million, 492 thousand, and 37 cases, while the total number of deaths reached 8 thousand and 253 cases.

And the newspaper "The Times of Israel" reported that Professor Eran Segal, of the Weizmann Institute, predicted in an official report that was delivered to the government, that one in three or four Israelis would be infected with the new mutation within the next three weeks, warning that most of them would not know basically that they had They were injured, as the testing kits in Israel are running out very quickly.

And Israeli media reported that the Corona examination centers witnessed very severe overcrowding during the past two days, which may lead to a possible collapse of the ability of these centers to accommodate those who visit them.

Israel's health ministry on Wednesday announced nearly 12,000 new coronavirus cases, constituting the largest daily rise in infections since the beginning of the pandemic nearly two years ago.

According to the figures, 11,978 new COVID cases were detected over the course of Tuesday, surpassing the country's previous record high of 11,344 cases recorded on September 2 last year.

While there were currently nearly 60,000 people with COVID in Israel, the number of serious cases on Wednesday was only 125, according to the health ministry.

Nearly 4.3 million of Israel's 9.4 million inhabitants have received three shots of the coronavirus vaccine.

In recent days, authorities began administering fourth shots to at-risk groups.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett predicted a continued rise in cases and encouraged people to get vaccinated.