JERUSALEM, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Ministry of Health reported 4,738 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, raising the total tally in the country to 784,696.

The death toll from the COVID-19 in Israel reached 5,786 after 26 new fatalities were added, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 737 to 705, out of 1,172 hospitalized patients.

The total recoveries in Israel rose to 738,443, with 2,593 newly recovered cases, while the active cases increased to 40,467.

The number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 in Israel has reached nearly 4.8 million, or 51.6 percent of its total population, since the vaccination campaign began on Dec. 20, 2020.

The country's COVID-19 reproduction number, also known as the R number, dropped from 1 to 0.97.

The R number is an indicator used to determine how fast the COVID-19 is spreading, as an R number greater than 1 means that the number of patients increases at an exponential rate and multiplies from time to time.