Jerusalem, Oct 11 (IANS): Israel has recorded 1,029 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 1,305,510, the health ministry has said.

The death toll from the virus rose to 7,912 on Sunday, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased to 448. The total recoveries rose to 1,272,013, and active cases decreased to 25,585, Xinhua news agency reported.

The number of people who have received the first doses of Covid-19 vaccines in Israel surpassed 6.18 million, or 65.8 per cent of its total population, while nearly 5.7 million have taken two doses and over 3.7 million have got three jabs, according to the ministry.

Israel's Covid-19 reproduction number, also known as the R number, has dropped to 0.71, the ministry said on Sunday.

This is the lowest rate of the R number in Israel since May 21, when it stood at 0.64.

It is also a significant decline compared to a rate of 1.15 on September 5 and a record of 2.47 reported on June 15.

The R number is an indicator used to determine the pace of the Covid-19 spread, as reproduction rate means the average number of people that a coronavirus patient goes on to infect.

When the R number is less than 1, it means that the pandemic has been curbed. When the R number is greater than 1, the number of patients increases at an exponential rate and multiplies from time to time.