A two-month-old infant died at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem on Motzei Shabbos after contracting the coronavirus on a background of serious medical issues. The baby, born to the Levy family in Beitar Illit, had been born with medical issues and had undergone complex surgery following his birth. Unfortunately, he also contracted the coronavirus and suffered damage to his lungs. It is unclear whether the coronavirus was the main factor leading to his death. The baby was cared for in Israel’s first pediatric ICU unit for coronavirus patients, opened at Hadassah Ein Kerem a little over a week ago. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Ten staff members of Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv were confirmed positive for the coronavirus over the weekend ten days after being inoculated with the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine, Channel 13 News reported on Motzei Shabbos. The staff members, who are all asymptomatic, were tested for the coronavirus by the hospital after two staff members in the department who hadn’t yet been vaccinated were diagnosed with the virus. It is unclear when the ten staff members contracted the virus. The second dose of the vaccine is expected to provide full protection from the coronavirus about a week afterward.

An Israeli 41-year-old mother of six with no preexisting medical conditions was hospitalized in the ICU in recent days in serious condition after contracting the coronavirus. To the family’s shock and dismay, on Sunday, the woman’s 15-year-old daughter who had also contracted the virus was also hospitalized in the ICU after suffering a deterioration in her condition. All seven members of the Chareidi family, residents of Ashkelon, began to feel ill about a week ago, subsequently testing positive for the coronavirus. Several days later, the mother was evacuated to Barzilai Medical Center due to breathing difficulties. Late last week, she suffered a further deterioration in her condition and was sedated and ventilated.

In the first incident of its kind, an Israeli who recovered from the coronavirus in August was reinfected with a coronavirus variant, testing positive on Sunday for the South African variant. The 57-year-old Israeli from central Israel recently returned from Turkey. He is the second Israeli to be diagnosed with the South African variant after returning from Turkey, with the 30 other Israelis diagnosed with the variant returning from South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, and Ethiopia. Furthermore, the Health Ministry last week identified three cases of the South African variant after carrying out sequencing on a random batch of test samples, raising fears that the variant is spreading throughout Israel.

The first one-shot COVID-19 vaccine provides good protection against the illness, Johnson & Johnson reported in a key study released Friday, offering the world a potentially important new tool as it races to stay ahead of the rapidly mutating virus. The pharmaceutical giant’s preliminary findings suggest the single-dose option may not be as strong as Pfizer’s or Moderna’s two-dose formula, and was markedly weaker against a worrisome mutated version of the virus in South Africa. But amid a rocky start to vaccinations worldwide, that may be an acceptable trade-off to get more people inoculated faster with an easier-to-handle shot that, unlike rival vaccines that must be kept frozen, can last months in the refrigerator. “Frankly, simple is beautiful,” said Dr. Matt Hepburn, the U.S.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday announced stricter restrictions on travelers in response to new, likely more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus — including making it mandatory for travelers to quarantine in a hotel at their own expense when they arrive in Canada and suspending airline service to Mexico and all Caribbean destinations until April 30. Trudeau said in addition to the pre-boarding test Canada already requires, the government will be introducing mandatory PCR testing at the airport for people returning to Canada. “Travelers will then have to wait for up to three days at an approved hotel for their test results, at their own expense, which is expected to be more than $2000,” Trudeau said.

After opening itself to New Year’s revelers, Dubai is now being blamed by several countries for spreading the coronavirus abroad, even as questions swirl about the city-state’s ability to handle reported record spikes in virus cases. The government’s Dubai Media Office says the sheikhdom is doing all it can to handle the pandemic, though it has repeatedly declined to answer questions from The Associated Press about its hospital capacity. “After a year of managing the pandemic, we can confidently say the current situation is under control and we have our plans to surge any capacity in the health care system should a need rise,” it said.

Novavax Inc. said Thursday that its COVID-19 vaccine appears 89% effective based on early findings from a British study and that it also seems to work — though not as well — against new mutated versions of the virus circulating in that country and South Africa. The announcement comes amid worry about whether a variety of vaccines being rolled out around the world will be strong enough to protect against worrisome new variants – and as the world desperately needs new types of shots to boost scarce supplies. The study of 15,000 people in Britain is still underway. But an interim analysis found 62 participants so far have been diagnosed with COVID-19 – only six of them in the group that got vaccine and the rest who received dummy shots.

Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Chezy Levy announced on Wednesday that Israelis 35 and over are eligible to be vaccinated beginning on Thursday. Over 2.8 million Israelis (30.92% of the population) have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and almost 1.5 million (16.25%) have received both doses of the vaccine. However, despite its speedy vaccination campaign, Israel is grappling with a high infection and death rate due to the rapid spread of the British variant throughout the country. In just one alarming statistic indicating the escalation of the situation, over 25% of the 4,605 Israelis who died of the virus since the start of the pandemic were confirmed in the past month alone.

Interior Minister Arye Deri ordered the closure of Israel’s border crossings with Egypt and Jordan on Thursday in an effort to prevent further virus variants from entering Israel. The order, which went into effect on Thursday at 6 a.m. and will be enforced until at least through Sunday night, follows the closure of Ben-Gurion Airport on Monday night at midnight. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday that Israel’s airport was closed because “it’s just a matter of time until we hit a strain that the current vaccines are not susceptible to.” “All the mutations that you see today… that’s two weeks too late.