Prof. Ron Balicer, the head of the Health Ministry’s pandemic response team, said that millions of Israelis will contract the Omicron COVID variant, which means that the number of hospitalizations will soar despite the variant being less virulent than previous ones. In an interview with Yisrael Hayom on Motzei Shabbos, Prof. Balicer said: “In recent weeks we’ve learned that Omicron behaves fundamentally differently than previous strains. The differences between it and the Delta variant are greater than the differences between Delta and Alpha and the other strains. It has various mechanisms for entering the cell and operates differently at the cellular level.

An Israeli doctor living and working in New York said that the health system in the city is slowly collapsing, Ynet reported. Dr. Amos Dodi, an ICU and pulmonary disease expert affiliated with the Montefiore Medical Center, told Ynet that the hospitals are working with reduced staff, which prevents additional wards from opening and negatively affects patient care. “We observe an increased demand on the health system, which we do not expect to change and are simply obliged to compromise the quality of care,” he said. Dr. Dodi added that internal medicine wards are overflowing and patients are lying on beds in the hallways. “We are struggling with maintaining sterile areas at the moment,” he said.

A researcher in Cyprus has discovered a new COVID variant that combines traits of the Delta and Omicron, Cypriot media reported over the weekend. The variant, discovered by Prof. Leondios Kostrikis who dubbed the new variant as the “Deltacron,” has a similar genetic background to the Delta variant but contains ten of the mutations from the Omicron. Kosrikis found 25 cases of the virus in Cyprus, with 11 samples taken from hospitalized COVID patients and 14 samples from COVID patients in the general population.

Israel confirmed its highest-ever number of new COVID cases on Wednesday since the pandemic began, with 11,978 cases diagnosed in the previous 24 hours. Although the number of seriously ill patients is still relatively low, it is also rapidly increasing, with 125 as of Wednesday morning, a rise of 40% since last week. Most seriously ill patients are unvaccinated. Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz announced a change to Israel’s COVID testing policy on Wednesday as the surge of infections seriously strains the testing system. Speaking at a press conference, Horowitz announced that the focus will now be on protecting high-risk groups and PCR tests will be reserved for those aged 60 and over and for other high-risk groups.

Like many people, Alberto Pérez of Madrid used a home test to discover that his headache and cold-like symptoms were caused by COVID-19. Unable to contact his local health center, where calls went unanswered and online appointments were booked up for the following week, he turned to a hospital emergency room for confirmation. After waiting three hours to be seen, health workers there agreed with his self-diagnosis but provided no PCR test to ensure a more reliable result. “The nurse seeing me said that, because I had not lost my sense of taste or smell, I had the omicron variant,” said Pérez, 39, who works as an online game developer in the Spanish capital.

Israel’s Health Ministry confirmed 6,562 new coronavirus cases on Monday, the highest number since September and three times the number of cases a week ago. Huge numbers of people continued to line up outside testing sites throughout the country on Monday and some sites will begin operating 24 hours a day as of Monday night. Also, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday that it’s likely that the criteria for testing will be changed in the coming days, with one possible change being that only people over 60 will receive PCR tests, and vaccinated people under the age of 60 who are exposed to COVID carriers and are asymptomatic will receive only antigen tests.

Pandemics do eventually end, even if omicron is complicating the question of when this one will. But it won’t be like flipping a light switch: The world will have to learn to coexist with a virus that’s not going away. The ultra-contagious omicron mutant is pushing cases to all-time highs and causing chaos as an exhausted world struggles, again, to stem the spread. But this time, we’re not starting from scratch. Vaccines offer strong protection from serious illness, even if they don’t always prevent a mild infection. Omicron doesn’t appear to be as deadly as some earlier variants. And those who survive it will have some refreshed protection against other forms of the virus that still are circulating — and maybe the next mutant to emerge, too.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned at the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday morning that “the storm is coming. There will be tens of thousands of verified cases a day, very soon. These are numbers that the world hasn’t known and we also haven’t known.” Israel confirmed over 4,000 new COVID cases on Sunday, the highest number in four months, and although the number of seriously ill patients is still low, standing at 110, it rose by 33% since last week. The number of cases confirmed in the past week was three times as high as the number of cases in the week prior. Prof.

As Israel confirmed over 4,000 new COVID cases on Thursday for the second consecutive day, Health Ministry director-general Prof. Nachman Ash announced on Wednesday evening during a press conference that mask-wearing is now required in gatherings of 50 or more people, even outdoors. The mandate went into effect at midnight on Thursday. The government also approved a Green Pass requirement for participants in gatherings of 100 or more. Health Ministry Nitzan Horowitz warned that officials are preparing for the highest infection rate ever seen in Israel. Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, the head of the Health Ministry’s Public Health division, urged parents to vaccinate their children.

Israel has approved a fourth vaccine dose for people most vulnerable to COVID-19, an official said Thursday, becoming one of the first countries to do so as it braces for a wave of infections fueled by the omicron variant. Nachman Ash, the director-general of the Health Ministry, announced the decision at a press conference, saying the doses would initially be given to those with weakened immune systems. “We will continue to track the data on a daily basis and we will see if we need to broaden this recommendation to more of the population,” he said. The Sheba Medical Center later said it would begin administering the fourth dose to heart transplant patients early on Friday.