As news headlines report on the latest Israeli sabotage at Iran’s Natanz nuclear site, the Jews in Iran are battling a serious COVID wave along with the rest of the country. At least four Iranian Jews recently passed away of the coronavirus, B’Chadrei Chareidim reported. The virus wave, Iran’s fourth, is especially severe in the cities of Tehran and Isfahan, both of which house Jewish kehillos. On the order of Chief Rabbi Rav Yehuda Gerami, the shuls in the cities are closed. Many young Iranian Jews have contracted the virus, with some of them becoming seriously ill and requiring respiratory assistance. A number of Jews are fighting for their lives in Iran’s overcrowded hospitals.

When plotted on a graph, the curve of Bhutan’s COVID-19 vaccination drive shoots upwards from the very first day, crossing Israel, United States, Bahrain and other countries known for vaccinating people rapidly. Those countries took months to reach where they are, painstakingly strengthening their vaccination campaigns in the face of rising coronavirus cases. But the story of Bhutan’s vaccination campaign is nearly finished — just 16 days after it began. The tiny Himalayan kingdom wedged between India and China has vaccinated nearly 93% of its adult population since March 27. Overall, the country has vaccinated 62% of its 800,000 people. The rapid rollout of the vaccine puts the tiny nation just behind Seychelles, which has given jabs to 66% of its population of nearly 100,000 people.

A jury has awarded $29.5 million to the family of a woman who was left brain damaged after being treated for a severe allergic reaction by an ambulance service in Las Vegas in 2013. Then-27-year-old Chantel Giacalone went into anaphylactic shock after biting into a pretzel infused with peanut butter while in Las Vegas for a convention, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Friday. Giacalone’s lawyer, Christian Morris, said she lost oxygen to her brain for a period of minutes after seeking treatment from MedicWest Ambulance, which was running the medic station that day. Morris argued in a civil lawsuit that MedicWest Ambulance negligently treated her allergic reaction.

Reb Dekel Levy, a 35-year-old Lubavitcher chassid from Rechovot, was finally removed from an ECMO machine 72 days after he was attached to it due to coronavirus complications. Despite the good news, Levy is still in serious condition and has a long road ahead of him before he will be fully recovered. “Hodu L’Shem Ki Tov Ki L’Olam Chasdo,” a statement by the Kehillas HaTzirim of Chabad in Rechovot said. “Together with the great simcha we request that everyone continue davening for his full recovery.” Reb Levy, a father of three small children, was diagnosed with the coronavirus in January. After his condition deteriorated he was hospitalized in Kaplan Hospital in Rechovot, where he was sedated and ventilated.

In a rare admission of the weakness of Chinese coronavirus vaccines, the country’s top disease control official says their effectiveness is low and the government is considering mixing them to give them a boost. Chinese vaccines “don’t have very high protection rates,” said the director of the China Centers for Disease Control, Gao Fu, at a conference Saturday in the southwestern city of Chengdu. Beijing has distributed hundreds of millions of doses in other countries while also trying to promote doubt about the effectiveness of Western vaccines. “It’s now under formal consideration whether we should use different vaccines from different technical lines for the immunization process,” Gao said.

One in three people who recovered from the coronavirus suffers from a neurological or psychiatric disorder six months later, according to the largest study on the mental toll of long COVID published on Wednesday. The study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal, shows that coronavirus patients have a significantly increased chance of developing brain-related conditions than those who suffered from other respiratory tract infections. Out of 230,000 recovered virus patients, 34% were diagnosed with a psychiatric or neurological condition within six months, with the most common conditions being anxiety (17%) and mood disorders (14%). For 13% of patients, it was their first mental health diagnosis.

By Day 3 of being confined to his Australian hotel room for quarantine, David Marriott was getting bored. He’d watched a few seasons of “The Sopranos” and his eyes were getting tired from reading. Then his lunch arrived in a brown paper bowl and he thought “Aha. That’s a hat waiting to happen.” The paper cowboy was born. Using the good quality paper bags his food was delivered in each day, Marriott, an art director on TV commercials, began fashioning an outfit. He added a brim to his hat, and then came the waistcoat and chaps. Next? A horse, of course. He found an ironing board in his cupboard and tied on a desk lamp for the neck and head, creating a skeleton. Coffee pods became the eyes and nostrils.

Sonia Sein said she spent the last six years “trying to catch every breath at every moment” after extensive treatment for her severe asthma damaged her windpipe. She is breathing freely again after getting an unusual transplant. In January, doctors at New York’s Mount Sinai replaced her trachea, the tube that ferries air from the mouth to the lungs. Doctors say this drastic operation could potentially help other people including COVID-19 patients left with serious windpipe damage from breathing machines. “We’ve talked for 100 years about just putting in a new windpipe,” said University of Washington surgeon Dr. Albert Merati, who had no role in the recent transplant.

After enduring 40-knot winds and freezing sea spray, jostled health care providers arrived wet and cold on two Maine islands in the North Atlantic late last month to conduct coronavirus vaccinations. As they came ashore on Little Cranberry Island, population 65, residents danced with excitement. “It’s a historic day for the island,” said Kaitlyn Miller, who joined a friend in belting out “I’m not giving away my shot!” from the Broadway show Hamilton when the crew arrived. Around the world, it is taking extra effort and ingenuity to ensure the vaccine gets to remote locations. That means shipping it by boat to islands, by snowmobile to Alaska villages and via complex waterways through the Amazon in Brazil.

Conspiracy theories about COVID-19 are causing real-world problems by discouraging some people from getting vaccinated, wearing masks or following other guidelines. Some bizarre theories about the virus have prompted believers to burn 5G cell towers, shut down vaccination clinics or even ingest poisons touted as cures. Experts on misinformation and psychology interviewed by The Associated Press offer several tips for individuals wondering how to talk to friends or family who believe conspiracy theories about COVID-19. Here’s what they suggest: LISTEN, DON’T PREACH: Believers in conspiracy theories aren’t likely to be swayed by people who mock their views.