As of Wednesday evening following the conclusion of the Passover holiday, there were 12,501 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Israel, and 131 people had died from the virus.
At least 180 patients are in serious condition, including 133 who are sedated and receiving support on ventilators.
The good news: 2,563 people have recovered so far.
Face Masks Now Required in New York
In New York, meanwhile, Governor Andrew Cuomo has ordered face masks to be worn in public areas.
He signed an executive order Wednesday, directing New Yorkers to wear face masks in all public areas, and warning that violations could result in fines. Local authorities won’t begin to enforce the order for another three days, however.
The governor’s order brings authority to the voluntary recommendation made by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on April 2.
His order came hours after de Blasio urged supermarkets and grocery stores in a City Hall briefing to require customers to wear face masks, and eject customers without them.
“This will help everyone to remember, when they’re in that kind of space, it’s so important to protect each other,” de Blasio told reporters “Any customers who says ‘No, I refuse,’ should not be allowed in. The City of New York will back you up.”
New York City Death Toll Nearly 11,000
The face mask order came after another 752 residents died overnight, bringing the state death toll to 11,586.
But the death toll in New York City alone may be close to 11,000.
Late Tuesday, the New York City Health Department released a revised additional death toll figure – 4,059 “probable deaths” — of those who are believed to have died from the virus at home, without having been tested. With that information, a total of 10,899 people in New York City are believed to have died so far.
The governor, however, disagreed with the calculation, saying it made no sense to include “probable” deaths together with “confirmed” deaths.
“The CDC changed its guidelines on how they want information reported. They want deaths and then another category of ‘probable deaths,’ which is a new category that’s done by the local department of health or the coroner,” he said.
The total number of deaths across the United States topped 30,000 on Wednesday after a record increase of COVID-19-related fatalities in a single day, according to Reuters, soaring to 2,364 in 24 hours. There were more than 615,000 confirmed cases of the virus (636,591) in the country.
Worldwide 2 Million COVID-19 Confirmed Cases
More than two million people around the world have struggled to survive this virus so far; there were 2,051,008 confirmed cases of COVID-19 documented as of Wednesday. At least 132,889 deaths reported.
More than half a million patients have recovered, however: 507,890 people were discharged from hospitals around the world and reported as healed from the virus.