JERUSALEM

Israel registered 4,197 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the highest tally since September.

In a statement, the Health Ministry said that 92,500 tests were done over the last 24 hours, and 4,197 tested positive for the virus.

In the past week, Israel registered 26,857 confirmed COVID-19 infections, compared to 9,081 cases the week before, an over threefold increase.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned that COVID-19 cases are likely to increase amid the spread of the omicron variant.

Eran Segal, a biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science, told Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that daily infections in Israel will reach 20,000.

Israeli authorities have already banned the entry of foreigners into the country over fears of the spread of the COVID omicron variant.

Since the start of the pandemic, 8,244 Israelis have died from the virus.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar