国际英语新闻:Israel reports 142 new COVID-19 cases, 836,882 in total

JERUSALEM, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Ministry of Health reported 142 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, raising the total number in the country to 836,882.

The death toll from the virus rose by 16 to 6,331, while the number of patients in serious conditions increased from 201 to 202, out of 334 hospitalized patients.

The total recoveries in Israel rose to 827,964 after 219 newly recovered cases were added, while the number of active cases decreased to 2,587.

The number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 in Israel stands at over 5.34 million, or 57.2 percent of its total population, since the vaccination campaign began on Dec. 20, 2020.

The country's COVID-19 reproduction number, also known as the R number, decreased from 0.72 to 0.69.

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.

Starting Sunday, the rules to enforce mask-wearing outdoors in Israel will be lifted due to the low morbidity in the country.

In closed places, however, the mask-wearing rules will still apply, the ministry noted.

Israel made the wearing of face masks outside home compulsory in early April 2020.