Hundreds of Israel are refusing to be treated with Regeneron’s life-saving monoclonal antibody treatment and at least ten Israelis, and likely dozens more, subsequently passed away, Channel 12 News reported on Sunday. The report said that about 1,500 COVID patients have refused the antibody treatment and Meuchedet, one of Israel’s four Kupot Cholim, reported that ten patients who refused treatment passed away. According to the report, it’s believed that as many as 120 COVID patients in Israel may have passed away after refusing the treatment. Shortly after Israel’s Health Ministry began offering the Regeneron drug in September, reports said that anti-vaxxer coronavirus patients are refusing to be treated with the drug.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday announced that he has accepted the recommendation of Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz to shorten quarantine for asymptomatic coronavirus patients to 5 days from the previous 7 days. The new regulation goes into effect on Wednesday. Asymptomatic coronavirus carriers and vaccinated and/or recovered individuals who were exposed to confirmed COVID carriers can leave quarantine after receiving two negative test results on home antigen tests, one on the evening of the fourth day of quarantine and the second on the evening of the fifth day of quarantine.

As Omicron cases continue to soar in Israel, the increasing number of seriously ill COVID patients along with flu patients is beginning to strain Israel’s hospitals. Assuta Hospital in Ashdod informed Magen David Adom on Sunday morning that ambulances should be diverted to other hospitals for at least two hours as its inpatient and emergency departments were overflowing. The hospital stated that the move was coordinated with the Health Ministry, adding that “it should be noted that there’s a critical shortage of staff that is exacerbating the situation.” Other hospitals have announced that they are opening new COVID wards. Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem opened its third COVID ward over the weekend as well another ICU unit, and Shaarei Tzedek Hospital also opened another COVID ward.

The rapid spread of the Omicron caught the Jewish kehilla in Moldova at the height of the harsh Eastern European winter. Due to the increasing number of COVID patients in the hospitals, many members of the community prefer to be treated at home, leading to a critical need for oxygen machines, B’Chadrei Chareidim reported. The Rav of Moldova, HaRav Pinchas Saltzman, who already provides assistance to the community via hot meals and distribution of medication to the elderly and needy, purchased a large supply of oxygen machines, with the help of donors in the community and philanthropic organizations. The machines were flown from Israel to Moldova and are already being put to good use in the Jewish community in Kishinev.

Israel has administered a 4th vaccine dose to more than 500,000 people, the Health Ministry said Friday. Israel began administering second boosters to the most vulnerable late last month and later began offering them to everyone over 60. Authorities hope the additional boosters will blunt a wave of infections driven by the omicron variant. Health Ministry figures show Israel currently has some 250,000 active cases. But only 317 patients are listed as seriously ill, far fewer than during previous waves. “Israel’s trailblazing vaccine campaign has reached another milestone,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday tried to calm Israelis anxious about the rapid spread of the omicron variant, insisting the government is managing the crisis better than most and ruling out a national shutdown. Bennett said during an evening press conference that Israel was weathering an “unstoppable storm” of infection by protecting the most vulnerable people and keeping the economy open. He also called on people to take personal responsibility for protecting themselves, their children and older relatives. More than 400,000 vulnerable Israelis — mostly people over 60 — have gotten a fourth coronavirus vaccination and hospitals are prepared for an influx of severe illness. Bennett argued that these steps are evidence the situation is under control.

The chairman of the Teacher’s Union Ran Erez excoriated Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Education Minister Shasha Biton on Monday, accusing the government of losing control of the educational system. In an interview with Channel 12 News, Erez said: “No one is making decisions on the educational system. The children are being abandoned. Everything is anarchy and chaos – there are no rules. Someone needs to make decisions in this situation and that someone is the prime minister.” Erez said that the current situation in schools is dangerous. “Coming to school where the students arent’ vaccinated and no one is being tested and they’re not giving us testing kits – it’s Russian roulette. The prime minister and education minister are responsible for this – they need to make decisions.

Health authorities around the U.S. are increasingly taking the extraordinary step of allowing nurses and other workers infected with the coronavirus to stay on the job if they have mild symptoms or none at all. The move is a reaction to the severe hospital staffing shortages and crushing caseloads that the omicron variant is causing. California health authorities announced over the weekend that hospital staff members who test positive but are symptom-free can continue working. Some hospitals in Rhode Island and Arizona have likewise told employees they can stay on the job if they have no symptoms or just mild ones. The highly contagious omicron variant has sent new cases of COVID-19 exploding to over 700,000 a day in the U.S. on average, obliterating the record set a year ago.

Aviran Yael fetched rapid antigen kits from a pharmacy in Tel Aviv’s busy center, placed them in the light blue bag strapped to the back of his motorbike and headed off to deliver them. With that, Yael on Monday joined a growing army of couriers toting Wolt delivery boxes around Israel, a sight that has become ubiquitous in the three years since the Finnish company began operating here. The payload in the blue boxes changed when the Israeli government last week authorized more at-home testing to take the burden off of testing centers. Almost immediately, as the omicron coronavirus variant set infection records, rapid antigen tests became the platform’s most in-demand product — even more than food, its core delivery business, officials said.

Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Nachman Ash on Tuesday evening announced that the quarantine period for Israelis with COVID has been shortened to seven days from ten, as long as they are asymptomatic for the last three days of the seven-day period. Ash said that a study carried out by the ministry on Omicron carriers showed that there was only a 6% chance that they were still carrying the live virus after seven days. The new policy goes into effect on Wednesday night at midnight. The policy follows many complaints by business owners that the huge amount of Israelis in lockdown due to carrying the virus or being exposed to it has created a de facto lockdown.