Israel began vaccinating children aged five and above this week as experts warn that a fifth wave of the coronavirus in Israel has already begun. “We’re no longer between waves, we’re at the start of a wave,” coronavirus czar Prof. Salman Zarka said on Wednesday evening in an interview with Kan News. Zarka and senior Health Ministry officials report that there has been a rise in the number of COVID infections in the past week and most of the new cases are children who haven’t been vaccinated. The Health Ministry has warned that it may impose new restrictions on gatherings if the number of daily cases continues to increase. On that background, senior health officials gathered at the home of HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky on Thursday to discuss the campaign for the vaccination of children.

Israel’s Health Ministry responded to the report on the high rate of diabetes in the Chareidi sector published by Kol Chai this week. The Health Ministry stated: “Diabetes mortality data appear in a file of the Central Bureau of Statistics as part of the health profile of localities in Israel.

Sunday was World Diabetes Day and on Monday, Kol Chai published a report about the diabetes epidemic in the Chareidi sector in Israel, with the diabetes rate 36% higher in the Chareidi sector than in the general population. The largest disparity is among men aged 35-45, with 1 out of 42 Chareidi men in that age group suffering from diabetes versus 1 out of 75 men in the general population. These statistics are from the pre-coronavirus era, which means that the numbers are likely even higher today since studies have found that one of the post-COVID phenomena is an increase in diabetes.

The Austrian government ordered a nationwide lockdown for unvaccinated people starting midnight Sunday to slow the fast spread of the coronavirus in the country. The move prohibits unvaccinated individuals older than age 12 from leaving their homes except for basic activities such as working, grocery shopping, going for a walk — or getting vaccinated. Authorities are concerned that hospital staff will no longer be able to handle the growing influx of COVID-19 patients. “It’s our job as the government of Austria to protect the people,” Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg told reporters in Vienna on Sunday.

Wang Lijie planned to spend three days in the Gobi Desert last month to take in the area’s famous poplar forest as its trees turned a golden yellow. Instead, the Beijing resident has been stuck for more than three weeks, much of it in quarantine, after authorities discovered a cluster of COVID-19 cases in a nearby city. He was among more than 9,000 tourists who became trapped in Ejin Banner, a remote part of China’s Inner Mongolia region that is in the Gobi. As vaccination rates rise in many parts of the world and even countries that previously had strict COVID-containment strategies gingerly ease restrictions, China is doubling down on its zero-tolerance policy.

A leading anti-vaxxer in Israel who died of COVID in September was advised by anti-vax doctors to refuse standard medical treatment even as he lay on his deathbed, Channel 12 News reported on Sunday. Chai Shoulian, z’l, was hospitalized in Wolfson Hospital in Holon after he contracted COVID but his condition rapidly deteriorated and he eventually passed away. According to the report, a Health Ministry investigation revealed that during Shoulian’s hospitalization, he was in contact with several doctors outside the hospital who advised him to refuse the treatment the hospital doctors offered him and try alternative treatments instead such as breathing exercises, vitamins, and inhaling the steam of tea. These doctors have previously advised Shoulian not to get vaccinated against COVID.

Sometimes when she’s feeding her infant daughter, Amanda Harrison is overcome with emotion and has to wipe away tears of gratitude. She is lucky to be here, holding her baby. Harrison was 29 weeks pregnant and unvaccinated when she got sick with COVID-19 in August. Her symptoms were mild at first, but she suddenly felt like she couldn’t breathe. Living in Phenix City, Alabama, she was intubated and flown to a hospital in Birmingham, where doctors delivered baby Lake two months early and put Harrison on life support. Kyndal Nipper, who hails from outside Columbus, Georgia, had only a brief bout with COVID-19 but a more tragic outcome. She was weeks away from giving birth in July when she lost her baby, a boy she and her husband planned to name Jack.

Israel’s Health Ministry reported on Tuesday that the first case of the AY.4.2 Delta variant, known as “Delta Plus,” has been identified in Israel in an 11-year-old boy who had returned from Moldova. Delta Plus was first identified in July 2021 and has been identified in several countries in Europe, with the largest number of cases in the UK. Health officials have been studying the variant and some have said there has been no indication that is more virulent or transmissible than other variants. The spokesperson for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that the government was keeping a close eye on the variant but as of now, there is no evidence that is more transmissible. However, other health officials say that it may be more infectious.

Israel’s fourth coronavirus wave has been showing signs of receding, with a steady decrease in the number of new daily cases in recent days. The number of seriously ill patients has also been steadily declining. But as the COVID pandemic has taught society, anything can change at any time and Israel can’t yet rest on its laurels. Senior health officials say that Israel must be on guard to prevent a resurgence of COVID caused by the entry of new variants into the country such as the AY.4.2 variant recently discovered in Europe. “We need to learn what the clinical significance of each variant is,” Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Nachman Ash told 103 FM Radio. “Right now I don’t have much to say, we still need to become familiar with it and evaluate if it’s dangerous for us or not.

A 49-year-old Israeli man who decided not to vaccinate due to anti-vax “fake news” spread on social media expressed his regrets for his anti-vax stance after he contracted COVID and almost died. Meir Dayan, who has been hospitalized in the ICU at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv for the past three weeks, wrote about his experience in a post he published on the hospital’s Facebook page. “I decided not to get vaccinated due to fears of side effects that were spread on social media,” Dayan wrote. “As an ordinary citizen, I was also confused by the many opinions and information published by various interested parties…and then I contracted COVID.” “On the tenth day, my condition worsened and I was evacuated to Ichilov Hospital.