Coronavirus

New record:

Number of severe COVID-19 cases rises to 732

Israel breaks another record as 20.61% of COVID-19 tests turn out positive.

Austria: Artist under fire for posting Star of David of syringes

Two Austrian cities remove statues created by prominent artist who posted Star of David made of syringes.

Watch: Adele tearfully postpones show due to Covid-19

Adele speaks on social media, postpones Las Vegas residency day before 1st show

The first in Europe

Austria approves vaccine mandate for adults

Austria’s parliament votes in favor of COVID-19 vaccine mandate for adults aged 18 and over starting February 1.

Bennett:

Israeli children return to continuous study next week

PM, Health and Education Ministers present new plan to reduce number of students in quarantine which will be implemented next Thursday.

Israel to end quarantine for asymptomatic children

Starting next Thursday, children exposed to COVID carriers will not be automatically placed in quarantine.

Radio host calls for unvaxxed to be denied hospital care

Howard Stern says: "In my America, you'd go home and die," claims "nothing happened" to anyone as a result of vaccination.

No quarantine for children or teachers - a dangerous precedent?

If unvaccinated teachers do not have to quarantine when exposed to a COVID-19 carrier, can Israel require other adults to do so?

Report:

Over 60m online engagements linking COVID-19, Holocaust

Holocaust survivors urge action against increasing abuse, trivialization, and appropriation, of their suffering.

Top pediatrician:

'Quarantine harms children more than the Omicron'

'Ending quarantine for children is the right thing - I've seen up close the price children pay for quarantine,' top pediatrician says.

Study: Vaccine may reduce cases of 'long COVID'

Most common long-term symptoms reduced by 50-80% in vaccinated individuals who were infected.

Israel to end Green Pass?

Health Ministry examining next steps for thrice-vaccinated whose Green Pass is set to expire, considers eliminating system entirely.

Health Min. official:

'We might be able to cancel quarantine for children'

'If we don't see unusual outbreak of PIMS in other countries, we may change quarantine rules for children,' top Health Min. official says.

Mass quarantines for school children to end next week?

New plan would offer regular COVID testing in schools, limit quarantines only to children diagnosed with the coronavirus.

US to distribute N95 masks for free

Biden administration to announce plan to distribute hundreds of millions of free, high-quality masks.

WHO: No need to give booster shots to the under-18s

Despite clear evidence of waning vaccine immunity over time, children & adolescents don't need top-up doses, says WHO's chief scientist.

US issues travel warning for Israel over rising COVID cases

Israel added to list of high-risk countries US citizens advised to avoid as cases reach 65,000 a day, over 500,000 for January so far.

New record of 65,259 new COVID cases in 1 day

After multiple days of no updates, Health Ministry reports grim new record numbers of diagnosed COVID cases.

180 mayors call to end of quarantine for children

Mayors write to PM, Foreign Minister arguing that requiring children to quarantine is uncalled given their low risk level.

Hong Kong to cull 2,000 hamsters following COVID outbreak

Unclear whether pet store employee caught coronavirus from animals or vice versa.

Israel to distribute 25-30 million free antigen tests

Health Minister Horowitz urges: 'Use the tests, safeguard those at risk - it's the social responsibility of each and every one of us.'

'Omicron wave has not peaked - infections are still increasing'

Those returning from a shortened quarantine 'liable to still be contagious,' warns Prof. Mevorach, head of Hadassah's corornavirus ward.

Researcher: Israel has second highest infection rate on earth

Israel is days away from peak of Omicron wave, says Prof. Eran Segal. 2 million Israelis likely have been infected with Omicron.

Health Min. losing control: 'I don't know how many new cases'

'Obvious that when you take shortcuts you'll let someone who is still contagious out of quarantine,' Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis says.

Top doctor: 'I hope this will be the last wave of coronavirus'

Dr. Orly Greenfeld speaks with Israel National News about Omicron & how to raise the reliability of antigen tests.

Health Ministry chief:

Mass quarantines crushing Israeli economy

Nachman Ash explains need to cut duration of COVID quarantine, citing huge number of new cases and quarantines.

Israelis with active COVID-19 cases can print out Green Pass

Health ministry app allows COVID-positive Israelis to print out Green Pass, bot which conducts epidemiological investigations crashes.

Canada approves Pfizer's COVID-19 pill

Health Canada approves Pfizer’s drug, Paxlovid, as the first take-home treatment for COVID-19.

Report:

10 Israelis died after refusing COVID treatment

10 COVID-19 carriers in Israel died after refusing Regeneron antibody cocktail, TV report says.

Bennett decides: Quarantine to be reduced to 5 days

Education Ministry warns children suffering depression at increased rates due to lack of normal routine during COVID crisis.

Pfizer CEO: Current wave will be last with so many restrictions

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla says COVID-19 will be around for many years, but current wave will be 'last with so many restrictions.'

New study highlights risk factors for COVID anxiety

New study finds women more likely to suffer anxiety over COVID; pre-pandemic physiological measures also associated to COVID fears.

'Empty schools'

Teachers fume at impossible work conditions

Schools struggle to remain open as number of staff quarantined, coronavirus-positive, increases.

JCC Manhattan aiming to help people 'reclaim pre-COVID life'

'Each of these spikes makes it harder for people to reclaim pre-COVID life,' JCC Manhattan's new director says.

Health Minister promoting:

Quarantine will be shortened to 5 days

Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz instructs professionals to prepare plan to further shorten the COVID-19 isolation period.

Top health official tests positive for COVID-19

Health Ministry advisor Professor Ran Balicer announces he tested positive for COVID-19.

Liberman tests positive for COVID-19

MKs Alex Kushnir, Moshe Tur-Paz and David Amsalem also added to list of Knesset members who have contracted the virus.

Number of seriously ill COVID patients nears 400

Over 39,000 new cases of coronavirus diagnosed, with unvaccinated much more likely to become seriously ill than fully vaccinated.

Health Ministry chief:

'If case numbers rise, we'll have to consider lockdown'

Prof. Nachman Ash says next week is "critical" in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Transportation Min. to reduce number of buses

Transportation Ministry temporarily reducing frequency of some bus lines to accommodate pandemic-related bus driver shortage.

Health Ministry: Over 300 COVID-19 patients in serious condition

PM Bennett: 'Thank you to those Israelis who got 4th dose of COVID vaccine and in so doing, help keep us all safer.'

Hospital staff to work 12-hour shifts due to manpower shortage

Agreement with Finance Ministry: Two 12-hour shifts instead of three eight-hour shifts.

Fauci: Unclear if yearly boosters will be needed

Top US infectious disease expert: We've only recently boosted people, it's not clear yet if we'll need to do it every year.

Subvariant of Omicron detected in Israel

Subvariant known as BA2 has already been discovered in several countries including China, Denmark, Canada and Singapore.

Free antigen tests for Israeli families?

Pharmaceutical Association of Israel launches project to distribute free antigen tests to families with 4 or more children.

New study: COVID loses 90% ability to infect within 20 minutes

First-of-its-kind study replicates what actually happens when people exhale aerosol particles.

Dramatic rise in number of haredi children getting vaccinated

New Health Ministry data shows 44% rise in vaccinations among haredi children.

England shortens COVID quarantine to 5 days

Move will help address shortage of hospital staff, although data show Omicron is already waning in England.

Leading rabbi: 'Coronavirus deniers will sit with murderers'

Rabbi Benzion Mutzafi, leading Sephardic rabbi, says coronavirus deniers 'will sit with murderers in Heaven.'

Top doctor: 'ICUs aren't filled with coronavirus patients'

Prof. Galia Rahav, top doctor at Sheba Medical Center, says hospitals are 'completely packed, we feel the rise in new COVID-19 cases.'

AstraZeneca: Third dose increases antibody response to Omicron

New data from ongoing trial shows increased antibody response to COVID-19 variants following third dose booster with Vaxzevria.

Nearly 50,000 new COVID-19 cases, number of seriously ill rises

Number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients rises to nearly 900, with almost 300 in serious condition.

Boris Johnson admits he broke COVID rules, faces calls to resign

Johnson admits attending garden party with around 40 staff at time when rules only permitted meeting with one other person outdoors.

Geriatric hospitals & care homes 'on the brink of collapse'

In the past two years, the Finance Ministry provided a special COVID grant; this year, it has ceased funding.

Trump:

Politicians who won't say if they got booster are 'gutless'

Former President: The fact is that I think the vaccines saved tens of millions throughout the world.

Why has Netanyahu not yet received fourth vaccine?

72-year-old opposition leader has not yet received fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine nor has he made an appointment to get one.

Dutch Foreign Minister tests positive for COVID-19

Minister Wopke Hoekstra, who was only sworn in on Monday, isolating after testing positive in antigen test.

Record-breaking streak continues: 43,815 new COVID-19 cases

Over 12% of COVID-19 tests returned positive results; condition of 84 patients critical.

Researchers: Israel may see up to 2 million COVID-19 infections

Hebrew University researchers predict Omicron wave will peak in two weeks, with up to 2 million active cases.

'Israel has more than 100,000 new COVID infections per day'

'Peak of COVID wave will come in 1 to 2 weeks,' says Weizmann Institute's Prof. Eran Segal.