Israel nears 1,000 new coronavirus cases per day

The Health Ministry said on Thursday that 966 people had tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, raising the total number of patients currently infected with the pathogen to 8,647. Hospitals are treating  270 patients, with the rest coping with the virus in home quarantine. The Ministry is demanding more stringent restrictions for curbing its spread, over and above local lockdowns at hotbeds, including restricting all gatherings to 50 individuals.