JERUSALEM, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Ministry of Health reported 590 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, raising the tally of confirmed cases in the country to 827,199.
The death toll from the virus reached 6,082 with nine new fatalities, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 557 to 549, out of 866 hospitalized patients.
The total recoveries in Israel rose to 802,244 with 1,516 newly recovered cases, while the number of active cases decreased to 18,873.
The number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 in Israel has reached nearly 5.16 million, or 55.5 percent of its total population, since the vaccination campaign began on Dec. 20, 2020.
On Friday, the country's COVID-19 reproduction number, also known as the R number, decreased from 0.68 to 0.66.
The R number is an indicator used to determine how fast the COVID-19 is spreading, as an R number greater than 1 means that the number of patients increases at an exponential rate and multiplies from time to time.
Also on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the number of active patients among its soldiers had dropped to 159, the lowest figure in the Israeli army since Nov. 23, 2020.
A total of 938 soldiers are currently in home quarantine, the IDF added. Enditem
