A shopper wears a face mask as he gets his body temperature checked at the entrance to Jerusalem’s main market, April 26, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Ronen Zvulun.

JNS.org – Four more Israelis died of COVID-19 late Monday and early Tuesday, bringing Israel’s death toll to 208, according to the Israeli Health Ministry. As of Tuesday, there have been 15,589 confirmed cases of infection in the country.

According to the ministry, 117 COVID-19 patients remain in serious condition, 94 of whom are on ventilators, while 7,375 people have fully recovered. Just 123 new cases were recorded in the past 24 hours—double the 68 new cases in the previous 24 hours, but still a significant reduction from last week, according to the ministry.

On Sunday, many stores and food shops in Israel were allowed to resume operations, although they are still required to adhere to strict hygiene and social-distancing regulations. On Monday, the Israeli Cabinet authorized a plan to gradually reopen the country’s schools; however, parents had not been notified of details as of Tuesday morning.

Despite the loosening of restrictions, Israelis were forbidden to take part in public ceremonies or gatherings for Memorial Day or Independence Day, while the country’s Muslims have been asked to keep Ramadan festivities inside their own homes.

Also on Tuesday, officials at Rambam Hospital in Haifa announced that 11-year-old Hadas Biton is no longer carrying the coronavirus, but remains intubated in an induced coma due to a heart infection caused by the virus.

The girl and her family had been quarantined in the Kinar Galilee hotel, one of the locations the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command is using to isolate coronavirus carriers. As her condition deteriorated, she was admitted to Baruch Padeh Medical Center in Tiberias and then transferred to Rambam, where she stabilized.