— The Israeli health ministry on Sunday has permitted the country"s food stores to sell rapid COVID-19 test kits in the hope of increasing availability and lowering prices of COVID-19 tests. So far, home antigen test kits have only been allowed to sell in pharmacies. According to new quarantine rules in Israel, the vaccinated and recovered people under the age of 60 who had been exposed to a COVID-19 patient can take a rapid home test, and will not have to enter quarantine if got a negative result. Earlier on Sunday, the ministry reported a record-high of 115,424 active COVID-19 cases in Israel, breaking the previous national record of 106,107 cases set on Saturday. The ministry also reported 17,517 daily new cases, bringing the total tally of infections to 1,495,577. Israel"s COVID-19 death toll increased by 6 to 8,265, while the number of patients in serious condition rose from 172 to 205, said the ministry. — Agencies