Rosh Yeshivas Chevron and member of Degel’s Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah HaRav Dovid Cohen tested positive for the coronavirus after being vaccinated about a week and a half ago. The Rosh Yeshivah apparently caught the virus in yeshivah as there has been an outbreak there recently and in many other yeshivos following Chanukah vacation. HaRav Cohen and Chevron Yeshivah have been known for having been extremely stringent on adhering to health regulations and unlike most other yeshivas in Israel, this was the first coronavirus outbreak it suffered. HaRav Cohen has been mapkid to always wear a mask and has been barely leaving his house except to go to the yeshivah.

India authorized two COVID-19 vaccines on Sunday, paving the way for a huge inoculation program to stem the coronavirus pandemic in the world’s second-most populous country. The country’s drug regulator gave emergency authorization for the vaccine developed by Oxford University and U.K.-based drugmaker AstraZeneca, and another developed by the Indian company Bharat Biotech. Drugs Controller General Dr. Venugopal G. Somani said that both vaccines would be administered in two dosages. He said the decision to approve the vaccines was made after “careful examination” by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, India’s pharmaceutical regulator.

A French prosecutor said police detained seven people Saturday, including two alleged organizers, after a New Year’s Eve rave party drew at least 2,500 people in western France despite a coronavirus curfew and other restrictions. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted that actions by police around the site at Lieuron, in Brittany, “led to the end of the illegal party without violence” on Saturday morning, 36 hours after it began. Prosecutor Philippe Astruc said an investigation has been opened for “endangering others’ lives,” “deliberate violence” against police officers and drug-related offenses. Investigators found that organizers requested a financial contribution to take part in the party and that illicit drugs were in plentiful supply, Astruc said.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Monday vaccine approval was being speeded up and border controls beefed up to curb the spread of the coronavirus, and he promised to consider declaring a state of emergency. Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike and the governors of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa had asked the national government Saturday to declare the emergency after the capital saw a daily record of 1,337 cases on New Year’s Eve. Worries have been growing about holding the Olympics in July, which will mean the arrival of tens of thousands of athletes, officials and media. Suga stressed his determination to hold the Olympics, which he said will serve as “proof that people have overcome the coronavirus,” giving “hope and courage.” Preparations were moving ahead, he said.

Britain on Monday took another giant step in the fight against COVID-19, ramping up its immunization program by giving the first shots in the world from the vaccine created by Oxford University and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. Dialysis patient Brian Pinker, 82, was the first to get the new vaccine shot, administered by the chief nurse at Oxford University Hospital. Pinker said he was so pleased and that he can “now really look forward to celebrating my 48th wedding anniversary with my wife Shirley later this year.” Since Dec. 8, Britain’s National Health Service has been using a vaccine made by Pfizer and the German firm BioNTech to inoculate health care workers and nursing home residents and staff.

As communities across the country feel the pain of a surge in coronavirus cases, funeral homes in the hot spot of Southern California say they must turn away grieving families as they run out of space for the bodies piling up. The head of the state funeral directors association says mortuaries are being inundated as the United States nears a grim tally of 350,000 COVID-19 deaths. More than 20 million people in the country have been infected, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. “I’ve been in the funeral industry for 40 years and never in my life did I think that this could happen, that I’d have to tell a family, ‘No, we can’t take your family member,’” said Magda Maldonado, owner of Continental Funeral Home in Los Angeles.

Senior health officials and hospital directors called on Sunday for Israel’s lockdown to be tightened. Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Chezi Levy told Ynet: “The infection rate is running amok and doubling itself and the number of seriously ill patients in hospitals have doubled in less than 10 days.” Levy added that the current lockdown is not adequate and a tighter lockdown is required to bring the infection rate down.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Sunday that more onerous lockdown restrictions in England are likely as the country reels from a new coronavirus variant that has pushed infection rates to their highest recorded levels. Johnson, though, insisted he has “no doubt” that schools are safe and urged parents to send their children back into the classroom in areas of England where they can. Unions representing teachers have called for schools to turn to remote learning for at least a couple of weeks more due to the new variant, which scientists have said is up to 70% more contagious. The U.K. is in the midst of an acute outbreak, recording more than 50,000 new coronavirus infections a day over the past five days. On Saturday, it notched a daily record of 57,725 new cases.

Turkey’s health minister says the country has identified 15 people who carry a highly contagious coronavirus variant that was discovered in the United Kingdom. In a statement Friday, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the strain was found in travelers arriving from the U.K. He said they were in quarantine, along with people they had been in contact with. He said the strain was not identified in passengers from elsewhere. Turkey suspended flights with the U.K. along with other countries in late December upon discovery of the new strain’s spread and quarantined at least 4,603 passengers. Turkey also began to require a negative PCR test result for all international arrivals last week.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday encouraged schools to resume in-person education next year, starting with the youngest students, and promised $2 billion in state aid to promote coronavirus testing, increased ventilation of classrooms and personal protective equipment. The recommendation was driven by increasing evidence that there are lower risks and increased benefits from in-person instruction particularly for the youngest students, he said. It comes amid increased pressure on schools to reopen campuses based on those rationales.