pandemic

File: A nurse prepares a vaccine at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, December 31, 2020. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

January 27, 2023, 1:39 am

FDA adviser: Israel’s fast actions, big data, gave US a ‘window to future of COVID’

Acting chair of FDA vaccine advisory committee hopes Israel’s stellar performance in COVID research will persist in other topics and have ‘continuing effect’ on US health policy

By Nathan Jeffay

An Israeli woman receives her fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine in a private nursing home in Petah Tikva, Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

January 25, 2023, 1:53 pm

Israelis should get annual COVID shots when virus cases low, vaccine panel advises

Top epidemiologist hails decision as wise move to deal with coronavirus as part of ‘new normal,’ but critic says case for regular population-wide vaccination not compelling

By Nathan Jeffay

A vendor wearing a face mask checks her smartphone at her store selling Chinese Lunar New Year decorations in Beijing, January 7, 2023. (AP/Andy Wong)

January 7, 2023, 12:49 pm

China cracks down on social media accounts of COVID policy critics

China facing surge in cases as it ends strict virus control, bracing for further spread over Lunar New Year; Beijing also ends criminal charges against border quarantine violators

By AP

File: A nurse administers a COVID-19 test outside the Salt Lake County Health Department, Tuesday, December 20, 2022, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

January 3, 2023, 11:14 pm

‘A hell of a variant’: Ultra fast-spreading strain could shake Israel’s COVID calm

XBB.1.5 strain is dominant in the US after cases doubled in just a week, and could quickly start circulating in Israel; on plus side, variant-bolstered vaccines expected to help

By Nathan Jeffay

Masked travellers use their smartphones to fill in their health declaration after checking in at the international flight check in counter at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

December 30, 2022, 2:28 pm

Israel joins nations requiring travelers from China to submit negative COVID tests

Measure does not apply to Israeli citizens, who have been advised to avoid all unnecessary travel to China amid surge in virus cases as Beijing lifts zero-COVID policy

By TOI staff and AP

File: Passengers wearing masks walk through Beijing Capital Airport terminal, in China, December 13, 2022. (AP/Ng Han Guan)

December 29, 2022, 2:36 am

US, others to require travelers from China to submit negative COVID tests

Beginning January 5, America-bound passengers must test for virus no more than two days before flying, as cases in China jump following end of zero-COVID policy

By Carla K. Johnson

US and Israeli researchers announce the formation of the Sheba Pandemic Research Institute (SPRI), December 22, 2022 (Courtesy Sheba Medical Center)

December 25, 2022, 2:35 pm

Israel’s Sheba Medical Center teams up with US health agency for pandemic research

Ramat Gan hospital to work with NIH for the quick identification of emerging pathogens and rapid deployment of scientific tools to fight them

By TOI staff

People gather in Manger Square, adjacent to the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, December 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

December 25, 2022, 6:58 am

Christmas reborn in Bethlehem with tourists back after pandemic, lifting spirits

Crowds at biblical city, revered as Jesus’s birthplace, still not at pre-COVID levels, but Palestinian Authority tourism minister says celebrations ‘very different’ from last year

By Agencies and TOI staff

A man stands in front of a cordoned-off area, where COVID-19 patients lie on hospital beds, in the lobby of the Chongqing No. 5 People's Hospital in China's southwestern city of Chongqing on December 23, 2022. (Noel Celis/AFP)

December 24, 2022, 7:23 pm

Report: 250 million Chinese infected with COVID in first 20 days of December

Leaked information from top health body suggest enormous gap between internal estimates and official data, as Beijing struggles with outbreak

By TOI staff and AFP

Illustrative image: A patient (left) and a doctor in Heiligendamm, northern Germany, at one of many clinics around the world that specialises in care and rehab for people with long COVID, April 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

December 21, 2022, 12:29 am

Poorer people are getting a double dose of long COVID symptoms — Israeli research

Study finds low-income Israelis who recovered from severe or acute infection have averaged 3.3 symptoms per person, while higher-income Israelis average just 1.8 symptoms each

By Nathan Jeffay

A healthcare worker prepares a COVID vaccine dose at the Sheba Medical Center on January 5, 2022. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

December 20, 2022, 4:46 pm

Power of 4th vaccine doses is in keeping COVID mild, Israeli study finds

When it comes to avoiding ‘substantial’ disease, boost was 71% effective for Pfizer, 89% for Moderna, but 4th shots give only small edge over 3-dose regimen in preventing infection

By Nathan Jeffay

An elderly Israeli man receives a fourth coronavirus vaccine dose in Ashkelon on January 3, 2022. (Flash90)

December 16, 2022, 12:12 am

Israelis produced some 15% of world’s top COVID vaccine studies, analysis shows

Jewish state ranks 3rd in quantity of vaccine research in the New England Journal of Medicine; across journals, Israeli scientists produced 536 studies, averaging four per week

By Nathan Jeffay

A sick baby with an inhalation mask to treat Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) on a hospital bed. (GOLFX vis iStock by Getty Images)

December 9, 2022, 12:13 pm

RSV hospitalizations jump 31% in a week, stoking ‘tripledemic’ fear

As doctors battle COVID and flu, they are also facing fast-spreading Respiratory Syncytial Virus, in apparent knock-on effect of pandemic

By Nathan Jeffay

Illustrative: a mother with her baby (Pascal Skwara via iStock by Getty Images)

December 6, 2022, 9:25 am

Mothers’ bonding with their babies unharmed by pandemic, Israeli study indicates

Moms were just as emotionally available during COVID outbreak as in normal times, research finds, surprising psychologists

By Nathan Jeffay

Illustrative image: An Israeli receives a COVID shot at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

December 5, 2022, 12:04 pm

Side effects of COVID vaccines often ‘psychosomatic’: Israeli peer-reviewed study

The more hesitant people were, the more likely they were to experience side effects, scientists found, after quizzing 750 Israelis on vaccine attitudes and post-shot symptoms

By Nathan Jeffay