LOS ANGELES (AP) — Religious services in California will look much different under rules unveiled Monday that limit attendance to 100 people and recommend worshippers wear masks, limit singing and refrain from shaking hands or hugging. The state released guidance under which county health departments can approve the reopening of churches, mosques, synagogues and other […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Many laid-off workers who lost health insurance in the coronavirus shutdown soon face the first deadlines to qualify for fallback coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Taxpayer-subsidized health insurance is available for a modest cost — sometimes even free — across the country, but industry officials and independent researchers say few people […]

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A U.S. biotechnology company announced on Tuesday the start of human trials in Australia of a vaccine for the coronarvirus with hopes of releasing a proven vaccine this year. Novavax has begun the first phase of the trial in which 131 volunteers in the cities of Melbourne and Brisbane will test […]

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — More than 200 workers at an export-focused textile plant in Guatemala have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and more results are pending in what could be one of the country’s largest outbreaks, officials said Monday. Zulma Calderon, the health prosecutor for Guatemala’s Human Rights prosecutor’s office, said they began receiving […]

GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization said Monday that it will temporarily drop hydroxychloroquine — the anti-malarial drug U.S. President Trump says he is taking — from its global study into experimental COVID-19 treatments, saying that its experts need to review all available evidence to date. In a press briefing, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom […]

REHOVOT (VINnews) — Pictures taken Sunday capture the atmosphere in the Kretchniff Talmud Torah in Rehovot as children returned to their classroom studies in the past week wearing masks and practicing social distancing where possible. Some Yeshivas have also returned to their studies but Rabbi Gershon Edelstein has not yet permitted the Bnei Brak-based Ponovezh […]

NETANYA (VINnews) — The Tzanz- Klausenberg Rebbe of Netanya, Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Halberstam, suffered a light heart attack Monday and was hospitalized in the city’s Laniado hospital founded by his father. The Rebbe, a member of the Agudath Yisrael’s Council of Torah Sages, is conscious and being treated by doctors at the hospital. A local […]

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Minister of Interior Aryeh Deri approved Sunday, in conjunction with the Health Ministry and the Foreign Ministry, the return of all foreign yeshiva students and avreichim back to Israel to learn in the yeshivos and kollels. In a letter penned by Deri last week, the minister announced that non-citizens carrying valid student […]

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA (VINnews) — As scientists worldwide frantically search for COVID-19 vaccines, epidemiologists also seek to find the source of the outbreak in order to be able to locate and prevent any future mutations of the virus from spreading and causing worldwide havoc. Most scientists were convinced until now that the virus emanated from an […]

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Nearly two weeks ago the White House urged governors to ensure that every nursing home resident and staff member be tested for the coronavirus within 14 days. It’s not going to happen. A review by The Associated Press found that at least half of the states are not going to meet […]