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Battling COVID: Weekly Update

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

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A woman receives a coronavirus shot at a vaccination station on January 16, 2021 in the coastal city of Herzliya. (Gili Yaari /Flash90)

Israelis aged 40+ start receiving vaccines in race to halt record infections

By Michael Bachner

Health minister orders providers to prepare to administer 250,000 shots per day; ministry recommends vaccines for pregnant and nursing women

Ziv hospital team members transport a new patient at the coronavirus ward of the hospital in the northern city of Safed on January 7, 2020. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Israel passes 10,000 daily infections for first time since start of pandemic

By Michael Bachner

Passengers at the Ben Gurion Airport departure hall on December 14, 2020 (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Officials bicker over airport virus failures ahead of cabinet vote

A composite image shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Gideon Sa'ar, right. (Flash90)

Live updates (closed)

Poll: Netanyahu’s Likud regaining support, Sa’ar’s New Hope losing it

TV survey says PM’s party would pick up 30 seats if new elections held today, but lacks clear path to cobbling together a majority

7:19 pm

US soldier arrested in plot to blow up 9/11 Memorial in NYC
7:15 pm

Poll: Netanyahu's Likud regaining support, Sa'ar's New Hope losing it
6:44 pm

IDF says rocket fired from Gaza Strip toward Israel

Sheba Medical staff members receive the second round of the COVID-19 vaccine, at the Sheba Medical Center outside of Tel Aviv, January 10, 2021. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Israeli hospital: 98% of staff who got 2nd shot have high-level COVID antibodies

‘The vaccine works wonderfully’: Sheba Medical Center says Pfizer inoculation gives more protection than recovery from coronavirus infection

Police officers enforce virus lockdown restrictions in the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim, January 18, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Netanyahu says Israel may need to extend lockdown, pleads with Haredim to comply

An empty departure hall at Ben Gurion Airport, on November 9, 2020. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Ministers to weigh ban on all outbound travel to curb spread of virus

Still from 'Out of My Head': Emma retreats to her darkened room as a migraine descends. (Maya Edelman)

Directors interview

For world’s 1 billion migraine sufferers, COVID a major headache, new film shows

By Renee Ghert-Zand

A health worker prepare a vaccination against COVID-19 at a Clalit vaccination center in Jerusalem, on December 31, 2020 (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Analysis

How well does the vaccine work? Israel’s real-world stats can be globe’s guide

The international community will be watching Israel, where vital data is starting to emerge from the breakneck-paced mass inoculation campaign

A vial with Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in a medical room, in Moscow, Russia, December 5, 2020 (Pavel Golovkin/AP)

Palestinian shipment of Russian Sputnik vaccine delayed

By Aaron Boxerman

PA ambassador to Russia says he expects ‘technical issue’ holding up delivery of shots to be resolved soon, and the first delivery to arrive by mid-February

Prison guards wearing protective clothing transport a prisoner suspected of having the coronavirus, at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, on March 30, 2020. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)

Israel to start vaccinating prisoners this week, including Palestinians

Palestinians sit as PA Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh opens a hospital for COVID-19 patients in the West Bank city of Nablus, on January 16, 2021. (Nasser Ishtayeh/ Flash90)

WHO raises ‘concerns’ about vaccine inequity between Israel and Palestinians

By AP and ToI Staff

Illustrative: Red blood cells alongside antibodies in an artery. (urfinguss; iStock by Getty Images)

Immune system ‘remembers’ to fight off coronavirus for at least 6 months: study

By Kelly MacNamara

Research by UN and Switzerland shows that even though the level of antibodies fade, body maintains sufficient memory B cells, and they manage to stave off reinfection

A pharmacist draws saline while preparing a dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in Sacramento, California, January 12, 2021.(AP Photo/Noah Berger, Pool)

A new COVID-19 challenge: Mutations rise along with cases

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE

Ronni Gamzu, CEO of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and former virus czar receives a COVID-19 vaccine, at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov), on December 20, 2020 (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Top official: Israel in ‘final stages’ of COVID, showing world an exit strategy

Ex-virus czar says with a quarter of population having received 1st shot, country seeing clear evidence vaccine is working; number of seriously ill over 60 drops sharply

Medical workers test people at a drive-through site to collect samples for coronavirus testing in the northern city of Safed on January 4, 2021 (David Cohen/Flash90)

Israelis to be exempted from quarantine a week after getting 2nd vaccine dose

An education worker receives a COVID-19 vaccine injection, at a Clalit clinic in Jerusalem, January 12, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israel’s data-for-vaccines deal with Pfizer raises privacy concerns

By Ilan Ben Zion

Health Ministry releases details of agreement with coronavirus vaccine producer, but redacted document doesn’t address all questions, including some ethical worries

A man speaks on his mobile phone at the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem, December 23, 2020. (Maya Alleruzzo/AP)

Coronavirus patients’ info given to Shin Bet without their knowledge

By ToI Staff and Agencies

A nurse administers a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to a health care worker in Liege, Belgium, January 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

As Israel inoculates even those 45+, WHO chief blasts global vaccine inequality

By AP and ToI Staff

Samples from the NaorCov19 test, developed by the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Red indicates a positive result; yellow is negative. (courtesy of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology)

Technion rolls out home-made coronavirus spit tests on campus

By Nathan Jeffay

As Israel’s third wave rages, university says swift saliva checks it developed can help prevent outbreaks in dorms and allow school to reopen when lockdown ends

Israel's Scentech Medical hopes to create a breath test to sniff out the coronavirus (YouTube screenshot)

Instant COVID-19 breath test as precise as swab test, Israeli company says

An illustrative image of cyber crime, the dark net, dark web and compuer hackers (Tick-Tock; iStock by Getty Images)

Dark net vendors tout likely fake COVID-19 vaccines as prices soar – researchers

By Shoshanna Solomon

Analysis

The ultra-Orthodox elephant in the coronavirus crisis room

It is the state’s job to consider the common good of all, rather than creating a wedge in the country by allowing the fringe to dictate the agenda

Defense Minister Benny Gantz arrives at the Knesset in Jerusalem on December 2, 2020. (Alex Kolomiensky/Pool/AFP)

Amid Haredi violations, Gantz says lockdown ‘pointless’ if enforcement selective

Ministers to convene Tuesday to discuss extending current restrictions, as coronavirus czar warns ‘immense strain’ on hospitals expected to continue

Haredi children head to school despite the government forbidding institutions from opening during a nationwide lockdown, January 17, 2021 (video screenshot)

Growing number of Haredi schools said to reopen, flouting lockdown

President Reuven Rivlin, center, meets with the heads of hospitals to discuss financial crisis threatening their collapse, at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, January 18, 2021. (Haim Zach/GPO)

Rivlin pleads with government to resolve hospital budget crisis

By Stuart Winer

Yael Ravia-Zadok

Economic diplomacy in action: Jobs, vaccines, travel and more

Throughout the pandemic, the foreign ministry has been busy serving entrepreneurs, developing markets and pitching Israeli technology abroad

30 years later: COVID lessons from the Iraqi Scud assault

The US can learn from Israel’s handling of a terrifying threat during Operation Desert Storm: Start by appointing a Corona spokesperson a la Nachman Shai

Artist Koketit, aka Shira Barzilay, has used Instagram to market her art and find clients, particularly during the last ten months of the coronavirus pandemic (Courtesy Shira Barzilay)

Pinched by pandemic, Israeli artists paint new paths onto Instagram walls

By Jessica Steinberg

More Headlines

Moshe Harazi (via Facebook)

COVID patient dies after breathing tube detaches, staff fails to notice in time

Self-employed Israelis protest the lack of financial support from the government during the coronavirus pandemic, on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv, July 7, 2020. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Work hours lost in Israel due to virus exceed EU average, Finance Ministry says

By Shoshanna Solomon

Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau receives a COVID-19 vaccine, at Tel Aviv's Sourasky Medical Center on December 20, 2020 (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau tests positive for coronavirus

A Tenufa Bakehila volunteer with the organization's emergency repair vehicle, used to do home repairs for free for those in need during the coronavirus (Courtesy Mark Neyman/GPO)

Quick fixHome repair organization helps elderly during coronavirus

By Jessica Steinberg

Dr. Ruth Westheimer (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)

Just a little prickSex therapist Dr. Ruth gets COVID-19 vaccine in NYC

By Gabe Friedman

A man wears a protective face mask as he walks by the closed Habima Theater in Tel Aviv, on October 20, 2020. (Miriam Alster/ FLASH90)

Deputy AG says Tel Aviv mayor has no authority to reopen culture venues

Israeli top model Bar Refaeli, right, and her mother, Tzipi Rafaieli wear face masks amid the coronavirus pandemic as they leave a courtroom in Tel Aviv, September 13, 2020 (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, Pool)

Model Bar Refaeli’s mother gets COVID in jail; doctors say her life is in danger

By ToI Staff and Agencies

Representative Brad Schneider, Democrat-Ilinois, in Washington DC on January 28, 2020. (Samuel Corum/ GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

Jewish Democrat says he contracted COVID during US Capitol siege

Seniors are vaccinated against COVID-19 at a New York State vaccination site in the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, January 13, 2021, in New York. (AP/Mary Altaffer)

Israeli group sparks debate with plans to vaccinate world’s Holocaust survivors

By Nathan Jeffay

An Israeli man walks past Emirati staff after passport control upon arrival from Tel Aviv to the Dubai airport in the United Arab Emirates, on November 26, 2020. (Karim Sahib/AFP)

UAE delays visa waiver agreement with Israel until July amid pandemic

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December	January 2021					February
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