WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday that he is taking a malaria drug to lessen symptoms should he get the new coronavirus, even though the drug is unproven for fighting COVID-19. Trump told reporters he has been taking the drug, hydroxychloroquine, and a zinc supplement daily “for about a week and a half […]

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Seven members of a wealthy Bukharan Jewish family arrived in Israel from NY on a private jet to bury their mother who had passed away from COVID-19 next to their father in Jerusalem. This is unfortunately a common occurrence since the outbreak of the virus but the family also allegedly violated health […]

MILAN (JTA) – Synagogues and churches have reopened in northern Italy, where they had been shut down since that area went into lockdown following the first major outbreak of COVID-19 in Europe. The main synagogue of Milan reopened Monday per guidelines agreed-upon last week with government officials, Moked, the Italian-Jewish news site, reported. Synagogues also […]

JERUSALEM (JTA) — It turns out that taking the traditional photograph of the incoming Cabinet while following coronavirus social distancing regulations is very complicated. So much so that the director-general of Beit HaNasi, the official residence of the president of Israel, had to consult with the director-general of the Health Ministry. The traditional photo, to […]

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — 50 chosen Chasidim of the Gerer Rebbe were allowed to pray in a special outdoor minyan attended by the Rebbe for the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus. The Chasidim strictly maintained social distancing and all the regulations of the Health Ministry. At the same time the Belzer Rebbe chose […]

GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization bowed to calls Monday from most of its member states to launch an independent probe into how it managed the international response to the coronavirus, which has been clouded by finger-pointing between the U.S. and China over a pandemic that has killed over 300,000 people and leveled the […]

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In an interview on Israel’s Radio Two channel, outgoing Health Minister Yaakov Litzman attacked the outgoing director-general of his ministry, Moshe Bar Siman-Tov for allegedly “sowing panic” during the coronavirus outbreak in Israel. Litzman said that “the moment my director-general said that he is concerned there may be ten thousand deaths I […]

JERUSALEM (israel21c.org) – An immune system run amok may be responsible for some Covid-19 patients faring worse than others, suggests a new international study led by immunology researchers at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science. Published in the journal Cell on May 7, “Host-viral infection maps reveal signatures of severe COVID-19 patients,” researchers in the lab […]

ASHDOD (VINnews) — Yuval Carmi, the falafel store owner who touched the hearts of all Israelis when he broke down in tears during an emotional interview and described his deplorable financial situation during the coronavirus outbreak, suffered a cardiac attack which required him to undergo an immediate catheterization procedure to save his life. Carmi has […]

PARIS (AP) — Just one week after a third of French schoolchildren went back to school in an easing ofthe coronavirus lockdown, there’s been a worrying flareup of about 70 COVID-19 cases linked to schools. Some schools were opened last week and a further 150,000 junior high students went back to the classroom Monday as […]