Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett says people are rushing to get a third vaccine shot as protection from the surging Delta variant of the coronavirus, AP reports.

Bennett pointed to government statistics showing that more than 420,000 Israelis older than 60 have received a booster shot, more than a third of the total targeted population. Bennett said the number is expected to grow to half a million people by the end of the day.

The prime minister spoke after a weekly Cabinet meeting. Israel is seeing a rising number of people hospitalised with Covid-19, almost all of them infected with the highly contagious Delta variant.