Health Ministry Director-General Hezi Levi said on Sunday that the compliance of the Israeli public with health guidelines will determine the spread of coronavirus.
Levi spoke at his first press briefing since taking office at the Health Ministry.
"There are 1700 new cases that have been confirmed since last Sunday with an average of 300 new cases each day," Levi said, adding that these figures are concerning authorities but there is currently no plan to impose further lockdowns like in the early days of the pandemic.
"We will deal with businesses and locations separately as the need arises," he said.
Three coronavirus wards have been re-opened to accommodate the growing number of patients, including 40 who are in serious condition.
"The exponential growth is worrying", Levi said, adding that the average age of patients has decreased compared to a couple of months back.
"We have been increasing the number of daily tests for COVID-19 and are conducting 15,000 tests per day on average. We have also relaxed the criteria for receiving a test and are working on expediting results quickly."
Waiting time for coronavirus test results has been cut from 5 days to 3.5 days on average.
The DG also said the ministry had hired and is in the course of training 300 new epidemiological investigators to track potential contacts of confirmed coronavirus patients.
Levi hailed the need for communication with the public. "There must be trust and there must be a flow of credible information," he said.
Earlier, Deputy Foreign Minister Yoav Kisch conceded that the government was hasty in its reopening policy which may have contributed to the rising number of cases.