JERUSALEM, July 5 -- The Israeli Ministry of Health reported on Friday a new death case from West Nile fever, bringing the total in the current outbreak in the country to 12.

The ministry also reported 61 new cases of infection with the virus, increasing the total number of cases detected in the country since the beginning of May to 236.

It is the highest annual number of West Nile fever cases since 2000, during which more than 400 cases of infection with the virus were diagnosed in Israel, according to the ministry's data.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection announced the detection of mosquitoes infected with the West Nile virus in several locations in the central Shfela region.

The ministry added that it directed local authorities to expand the monitoring and extermination actions and called on the public to dry up sources of stagnant water, the best place for mosquitoes to breed.

  - Xinhua