January marked Israel’s deadliest month of the coronavirus outbreak so far with 998 deaths, according to numbers released by the Health Ministry.
The second highest month was October 2020 with 961 deaths.
One thousand of Israel’s population of 9.2 million is the proportional equivalent of 43,000 Americans.
While Israel is faring along with some of the worst countries in the world when it comes to contagion — surpassing even the U.S., the country is leading the world by a large margin with its aggressive vaccination campaign.
Some 2.5 million Israelis have received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, and close to a million have received both shots. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to vaccinate its the entire adult population by March.
“We will be the first country to emerge from the coronavirus,” Netanyahu has said. “We will vaccinate all relevant populations and anyone who wants to can be vaccinated.”
Israel has had 595,097 cases and 4,361 deaths since the start of the outbreak in mid-March.
The country is in the third week of its third lockdown.
Netanyahu on Sunday will present his cabinet with a proposal to halt all international flights to and from Israel for two weeks, over concerns of additional variants entering the country. The travel ban will apply even to those who have been fully vaccinated, according to Israeli media reports.
The British variant has fast been spreading through the country in recent weeks, but according to preliminary studies released last week, the Pfizer vaccine appears to be effective against it.