JERUSALEM, Jan 5 — Israel’s health ministry today 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 yesterday, 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 today was only 125, according to the health ministry.

Nearly 4.3 million of Israel’s 9.4 million inhabitants have received three shots of 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.

"The wave now is really increasing and we expect to have tens of thousands of verified cases already in the next few days,” he said during a tour of a hospital in central Israel.

"The good news is that the vaccines work, so anyone who gets vaccinated and properly wears a mask will probably not get seriously ill, and it will pass in a few days,” he said. 

The country has officially recorded more than 1.4 million cases of Covid-19 infection, including 8,247 deaths. — AFP