Israel on Monday reported 74,312 new daily COVID cases diagnosed a day earlier, with infection rate standing at 30%.
The Health Ministry said they had conducted 249,938 coronavirus tests on Sunday, putting the contagion rate at 29.73%.
The virus' reproduction rate, R number, is still below 1, indicating a decline in the community spread of the pathogen. The R number highlights the average number of secondary infections produced by a single virus carrier.
The ministry added that 1,099 patients are in severe condition, of whom 241 are ventilated. The tally represents a daily spike of 218 new severely ill patients - the highest single-day increase since the start of the pandemic.
At least 80% of severely ill are aged 60 and over, 320 of whom are not vaccinated, 107 vaccinated partially and 33 are fully vaccinated. Of the serious patients below the age of 60, four are not vaccinated, four partially vaccinated and one is not vaccinated at all.
Since the start of the pandemic, 8,724 people have succumbed to COVID-related complications, at least 19 of whom died on Sunday alone.
Israel currently has 421,490 active COVID patients, majority of whom live in Jerusalem, with 31,418 cases. The capital is followed by Tel Aviv with 21,631, Petah Tikva with 13,323, Haifa with 12,599, Be'er Sheva with 12,264, Rishon Lezion with 11,962 and Netanya with 10,159.