The number of New Yorkers hospitalized with the coronavirus continues to rise, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday, as authorities heightened their focus on banning mass gatherings in COVID-19 hot spots. Cuomo announced that 826 people were hospitalized with the virus — the highest number since July 15. State officials said eight New Yorkers died of the coronavirus on Friday. Still, the governor insisted the “numbers remain good news,” noting that public health officials traced 18% of positive tests this week to a so-called “Red Zone” that’s home to 2.8% of the state population. Six coronavirus clusters have cropped up in Brooklyn and Queens, as well as Broome, Orange and Rockland counties. The state has closed schools and nonessential businesses in those areas and limited gatherings.

Jacob Kornbluh, a reporter at the ‘Jewish Insider’ tweeted that he will be filing charges against Boro Park Community Activist Heshy Tischler for ‘incitement and physical assault’. Kornbluh tweeted that he was a hit in the head and kicked while being called a “Nazi” by what he called an, “angry crowd of hundred of community members.” A video (attached) shows Tischler calling Kornbluh a “Rat” and a “Moiser” and encouraging the crowd to do the same – exclaiming, “Everyone say moiser!” People can be heard yelling “min darf eim hargenen” (We need to kill him). At the time of YWN publishing this article, it had already turned into a national story, with many, many elected officials condemning the incident, as well as news reporters publishing videos on Twitter.

The family members of Hagaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky stated on Motzei Shabbos that the Rav has continued to feel well, Baruch Hashem, and is continuing his sidrei limmud as usual in the sukkah. HaRav Chaim was diagnosed with the coronavirus on Thursday evening and is under close medical supervision at home. The photographer Shuki Lehrer, who had the coronavirus about a month and a half ago and is currently immune, was allowed into the Sukkah of HaRav Chaim on Motzei Shabbos/Yom Tov, where he photographed the Gadol washing mayim acharonim for melave malke and learning in the Sukkah. HaRav Chaim was asked on Friday what people could do for the sake of the Rav’s refuah and he requested that men should complete Masechtas Brachos and both men and women recite ten pirkei Tehillim.

New York City’s mayor said Sunday that he has asked the state for permission to close schools and reinstate restrictions on nonessential businesses in several neighborhoods because of a resurgence of the coronavirus. The action, if approved, would mark a disheartening retreat for a city that enjoyed a summer with less spread of the virus than most other parts of the country, and had only recently celebrated the return of students citywide to in-person learning in classrooms. Shutdowns would happen starting Wednesday in nine ZIP codes in the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. DEBLASIO SAID: “This would begin this Wednesday morning coming – Wednesday, October 7th – require the closure of nonessential businesses in these nine ZIP codes, and I want to go through them now.

President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes the year he ran for president and in his first year in the White House, according to a report Sunday in The New York Times. Trump, who has fiercely guarded his tax filings and is the only president in modern times not to make them public, paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years. The details of the tax filings complicate Trump’s description of himself as a shrewd and patriotic businessman, revealing instead a series of financial losses and income from abroad that could come into conflict with his responsibilities as president. The president’s financial disclosures indicated he earned at least $434.9 million in 2018, but the tax filings reported a $47.4 million loss.

Magen David Adom and United Hatzalah published their post-Yom Kippur reports regarding their activities over the holiday. Magen David Adom ambulances teams were dispatched to 2,360 medical emergencies and transported 1,818 people to the hospital. United Hatzalah said that their volunteers treated 1,537 patients. Some 305 people fainted, dehydrated, or felt ill due to the fast, a rise of 15 percent from last year. Officials believe that this was due to the heatwave that Israel is currently undergoing and the fact that prayers were conducted outdoors. Magen David Adom stated that they transported 136 women in labor to the hospital and United Hatzalah reported that their teams delivered two women in their homes over the holiday.

Data published by Israel’s Health Ministry on Sunday shows that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Chareidi cities has doubled in the past week, which may be a result of Rosh Hashanah tefillos and Selichos. “From the beginning of Elul we see a dramatic increase in the Chareidi population of twice the amount of coronavirus cases than the general population,” said Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, the Health Ministry’s head of Public Health, in an interview on Radio Kol Chai. “In the past week alone, 20,000 Chareidim tested positive for the coronavirus, three times the number in the general population.

A record number of 6,923 new coronavirus cases in the previous 24 hours were confirmed in Israel on Wednesday morning, the highest number of daily cases since the start of the pandemic. The positive testing rate has risen to 11.4% and the total number of coronavirus cases leaped to 200,041. A mere month ago, there were only 100,000 virus cases. There are 668 seriously ill patients, of whom 159 are ventilated. There were 31 additional fatalities recorded in the previous 24 hours, raising the death toll to 1,316. A total of 4,331 medical staffers are currently in quarantine and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein ordered paramedics to provide backup to hospitals immediately.

The United States and the United Arab Emirates are aiming to form an initial agreement on the sale of F-35 fighter stealth jets to the Gulf country by December, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Emirati defense officials hope to secure a letter of agreement no later than December 2, when UAE National Day is celebrated. Israel is the only country in the Middle East to own the F-35s and currently has about 24 of the jets. The agreement must fulfill the United State’s commitment – defined in US law – to ensure Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge (QME). Some sources say that the US may provide Israel with advanced radar technology that may override the stealth qualities of the jets, rendering them visible to Israeli radar.

Twenty new coronavirus-related fatalities were reported across Israel over Rosh Hashanah. These deaths included sixteen people who were reported to have died of the disease on Shabbos and another four on Sunday. The total mortality rate due to complications with the virus since the pandemic began is now 1,236. A total of 3,790 new cases of the virus were diagnosed Saturday, down from 5,301 new diagnoses on Friday. On Sunday, that number went down even further, to 1,571 as of 7:00 p.m. The total number of active carriers of the virus in Israel is 52,262. Currently, there are 643 people in serious condition with 170 on ventilators.