MADRID, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Spain"s 14-day COVID-19 infection rate rose by 148 points to 2,722.72 cases per 100,000 people, the health ministry said on Friday, compared to 2,574.46 on Wednesday when the last figures were released before a public holiday on Thursday. The number of cases of coronavirus rose by 242,440 on Friday compared with Wednesday. The percentage of hospital beds occupied by patients with coronavirus was 11.79% on Friday, compared to an earlier wave of the pandemic last year when 24% of hospital beds were occupied by people with COVID-19 on Jan.28. The number of patients with COVID-19 in intensive care units rose to 22.06% but this was well below the figure of almost a year ago when 42.84% of intensive beds were occupied by patients with the virus on Jan. 28 last year. More than 5,000 elderly people living in care homes died from COVID-19 last year, according to government figures released on Friday, a fifth of the 25,700 elderly people who died from confirmed cases of the virus in 2020. Already 15 million people have received the COVID-19 booster vaccination in Spain, the health ministry said, while 80.2% of the population are fully vaccinated.