A student at Yeshiva University has unfortunately tested positive for Coronavirus, and the Yeshiva and the MTA Yeshiva High School are taking every precaution. The latest case is the son of the Jewish lawyer from New Rochelle, who remains in critical condition in a Manhattan hospital. His name for Tehillim is אליעזר יצחק בן שפרה (Eliezer Yitzchok ben Shifra). The father works at Lewis and Garbuz P.C., a small law firm in midtown. At least seven contacts from his job are being evaluated for potential exposure, authorities told YWN. Y.U. sent out the following email moments ago: We have unfortunately confirmed that our student has tested positive for COVID-19 and our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family as well as to all those affected.

El Al announced that it has canceled all flights to Cyprus due to minimal demand, a Channel 12 News report said. Although Cyprus has no confirmed cases of the coronavirus, international travel in general has significantly declined due to fear of the coronavirus. On Monday, El Al was forced to cancel several flights due to the limited number of expected passengers on the plane. Some of the flights that were canceled were to destinations that aren’t considered high-risk at all – London, Vienna, Frankfurt and Budapest. “The passengers are simply not arriving. There’s no point in flying,” an El Al source said. El Al also froze five training courses for 60 pilots and about 100 flight attendants as the company prepares a plan to lay off about 1,000 of its 6,000 employees.

Lawmakers are finalizing a $7.5 billion emergency bill to fund the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, even as fear is growing that the rapid spread of the virus is a shock to the economy and will lead to significant disruption in people’s everyday lives. Lawmakers across the spectrum said negotiations are likely to produce a bipartisan deal on Wednesday in hopes of clearing the measure through Congress by week’s end — a burst of bipartisan cooperation that’s atypical of today’s Washington. The $7.5 billion package would triple Trump’s request but is expected to enjoy support from both the White House and Trump’s GOP allies on Capitol Hill.

A week ago Friday, the Coronavirus officially arrived in Israel when one of the passengers from the Cruise Ship docked in Japan came back to Israel and was re-diagnosed with the virus. On Shabbos, 9 tourists from South Korea who had been visiting Israel previously, were also diagnosed as being infected with the virus. Shortly thereafter, Israelis returning from Italy were diagnosed as having contracted the virus. Due to the confusion in Israel that is being caused by the virus, an ancient Segulah to prevent plagues has been uncovered. In the early writings of Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropol there is found a Segulah against plagues. The Segulah consists of reciting the translation of Onkelos for the passages relating to the travels of the Bnei Yisrael at the end of Sefer Bamidbar.

Prof. Itamar Grotto, the Deputy Director-General of Israel’s Health Ministry stated on Wednesday that the wide-scale spread of the coronavirus in Israel is inevitable after a vice-principal of an elementary school and a 9th-grade student were diagnosed with the virus, requiring over 1,000 students to be put into quarantine. Israel’s Health Ministry announced on Tuesday night that three more Israelis were diagnosed with the coronavirus, raising the total number of cases in Israel to 15. One of the three is a 9th-grade student at Brenner High School in Givat Brenner, a kibbutz in central Israel near Rechovot, who works at the Red Pirate toy store in Or Yehuda where the first Israeli who was diagnosed with the virus upon his return from Italy also works.

A 15-year-old yeshivah bochur was bitten by a snake on Nachal Kishon in Ramat Beit Shemesh on Tuesday. He was evacuated to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in moderate condition. “When we arrived at the site, the teen’s friends told us that he was bitten by a snake,” Avraham Levinger, an Ichud Hatzalah EMT said. “We administered first aid and he was then evacuated to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem in moderate condition.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

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A senior health professional said on Kan Radio on Tuesday that Israel’s Health Ministry is considering imposing a two-week quarantine period on all passengers who arrive from the United States. Dr. Tal Brosh, a former Health Ministry consultant and head of the infectious disease unit at Assuta Ashdod said that adding the US to the list of countries considered high risk for the coronavirus is “under discussion, of course” adding that he personally would recommend it due to the rising number of people diagnosed with the virus in the US – currently over 100 (and six fatalities).

Shlomo was inspired to learn daf Yomi at the Siyum Hashas. But he doesn’t own a set of artscroll Gemarahs, and yet he relies on these to quickly learn the daf on his own, especially when he’s traveling or doing chazorah. The he heard about ShopEichler’s Gemarah subscription. Choosing from an array of Gemarah types, he found the right edition for himself, and subscribed to their easy and convenient Daf Delivered program. Now, he gets his gemarah ahead of schedule, hassle free. Best of all, he got his first volume completely free. If you’re looking for a way to keep up with Daf Yomi, stay motivated, and learn the daf with your favorite Gemarah, the Daf Delivered subscription from Eichler’s Judaica is perfect for you. Join now and get your first Gemarah free today!

A source told Yeshivah World News that the Chief Rabbi of Tehran, Rav Yehudah Grami, publicized a kol koreh to the Jewish communities in Iran not to fast on Taanis Esther due to pikuach nefesh. The outbreak of the coronavirus in Iran is the deadliest outside China and since fasting causes weakness and can lower the immune system, Rav Grami made a decision to forbid fasting on the upcoming Taanis. According to a recent report in the Mishpacha following the assassination of Quds commander Qassem Soleimani, Rabbi Grami, in his forties, left Iran as a bochur to learn in yeshivos, among them Ner Israel in Baltimore and has semichah from Rav Moshe Heinemann, the Rav of the Agudas Yisrael shul in Baltimore.