Israel recorded a new record high infection rate Sunday, with nearly 30% of all COVID tests carried out returning positive.

A total of 74,312 new cases of the virus were diagnosed Sunday, according to data released by the Health Ministry Monday morning, with 29.73% of tests coming back positive. A day earlier, 49,404 new cases were diagnosed, with 27.84% of tests coming back positive.

There are now 421,490 known active cases of the virus in Israel, with a total of 1,462,708 cases diagnosed since the start of the pandemic.

The number of seriously ill patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 declined slightly Monday, falling from 1,101 on Sunday to 1,099.

Of those, 423 patients are unvaccinated and 615 vaccinated (including 494 with boosters), with the remainder being of unknown vaccination status.

There are currently 241 seriously ill patients on respirators.

The number of COVID-related fatalities since the pandemic began rose to 8,724, including 19 deaths on Sunday.