Israel reports 324 more COVID-19 cases, 2,693 in total

A total of 324 people in Israel tested positive for the COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 2,693, the Israeli Ministry of Health said. Of the 413 patients being treated in hospitals across Israel, 46 are in serious condition and 67 are in moderate condition, it said.

Of the remaining 2,280 cases, 8 have died, 1,414 are treated in home quarantine, 370 are treated in hotels converted into treatment facilities, 70 have recovered, and the remaining 418 will be treated at home, hotel or hospital in accordance with decisions to be made soon.

Israel has become one of the worst-hit countries in the Middle East by the highly infectious coronavirus.

Earlier on Thursday, the Israel Employment Service said that the state's unemployment rate jumped from 4 percent to 21.2 percent since the beginning of March due to the pandemic.

According to the bureau, 723,028 Israelis have applied for unemployment benefits since March 1. The total number of unemployed people in Israel currently exceeds 880,000.