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Apr. 18, 2021 9:50 PM
With the number of Israelis vaccinated against COVID-19 topping 5 million and the country experiencing fewer than 100 new daily cases, the government ended its outdoor mask mandate on Sunday, spurring widespread celebration and forcing people to change deeply ingrained habits formed by just over a year of mandatory virus precautions.
“I forgot I was wearing it. I walked outside and forgot to take it off,” Harold, an immigrant from Chicago, said as he removed his mask on the sidewalk outside a pharmacy in the Jerusalem suburb of Ramat Bet Shemesh.
CoronavirusIsrael
By Aryeh Stern
YERUSHALAYIM -
The almost empty Big Shopping Center in Ashdod, on Sunday. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)
Israel added 2,624 new coronavirus infections on Shabbos, the Health Ministry reported Sunday morning.
Out of the 28,852 tests conducted in the previous 24 hours, as the numbers tend to dip on Shabbos, 9.4% returned positive.
The latest update puts Israel’s death toll throughout the pandemic at 5,074.
1,110 patients are hospitalized in serious condition. Of those, 302 are ventilated and 383 are severely ill.
According to Sunday’s report, 3,426,415 Israelis – more than one-third of the population – have received at least one vaccine jab, and 2,015,108 have received the second shot as well.