Another eight Israelis were diagnosed with the coronavirus on Tuesday in Israel amidst the Purim festivities, raising the number of confirmed cases in the country to 58. Patient #51 is a resident of southern Israel, who recently returned from Azerbaijan; patient # 52, a Ma’ale Adumim resident in his 80s was in contact with someone subsequently diagnosed with the virus; patient #53 is a resident of central Israel in his 40s who returned from Munich on February 27; patients #54 and #55, both in their 30s, returned from Germany to Israel on March 6th and have been in self-quarantine since; patient #56 is a Jerusalem woman in her 60s from Jerusalem who was in contact with someone diagnosed with the virus; and patient #57 was also in contact with someone diagnosed with the virus.

A 10-year-old boy and his mother have been rescued 52 hours after being trapped in the collapse of a virus quarantine site in southeastern China where 20 people have died. Video released by rescuers showed the two being pulled from the debris of the hotel that collapsed on Saturday. The woman and boy were discovered late Monday night and they were freed around midnight after three hours of painstaking digging. The hotel in the city of Quanzhou had been a quarantine site for people exposed to the new coronavirus, which for most people causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday backed a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow him to seek re-election after his current term ends in 2024, ending uncertainty about his future. Putin gave his support to the amendment put forward by lawmaker Valentina Tereshkova, who as a Soviet cosmonaut in 1963 became the first woman to fly to space. She proposed either scrapping Russian’s two-term limit for presidents or resetting the clock so Putin’s four terms wouldn’t count. Lawmakers in the Kremlin-controlled State Duma quickly endorsed Tereshkova’s proposal, along with a sweeping set of constitutional changes proposed by Putin.

President Donald Trump says his administration will ask Congress to pass payroll tax relief and other quick measures as a public health and economic maelstrom brought on by the coronavirus drew closer to him personally. Intending to calm the fears of financial markets over the impact of the epidemic, Trump told reporters Monday he is seeking “very substantial relief” to the payroll tax. Trump also said he was seeking help for hourly-wage workers to ensure they’re “not going to miss a paycheck” and “don’t get penalized for something that’s not their fault.” He stepped forward with the contours of an initiative after markets dropped sharply and as the outbreak spread.

While Nefesh B’Nefesh has been excitedly preparing for the annual Mega Aliyah Event, ongoing health concerns surrounding the coronavirus have unfortunately led the organization to make the difficult decision to cancel this year’s expo which was planned to take place on March 15, 2020 in Teaneck, New Jersey. As an alternative, Nefesh B’Nefesh will be offering broadcast sessions and presentations on an all-encompassing slate of Aliyah resources for retirees, medical and young professionals, families and singles looking to make Aliyah.

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5TJT.com If you look outside today, you will see kids dressed up as pirates, as Chassidish Rebbes, as Donald Trump, as superheroes, football players, and almost any other costume you can imagine.   Indeed, even the non-Jewish mail people who deliver in Jewish areas are dressing up!  It is surely not one of our run-of-the-mill Jewish minhagim. WHERE DID IT COME FROM?

Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil giant Saudi Aramco said Tuesday it would increase its crude oil production to 12.3 million barrels a day in April, a record amount. The move seemed to make good on the country’s promise over the weekend to increase output after Russia refused to cooperate on cutting production. That led to a 25% plunge in the price of crude on Monday, the sharpest decline seen since the 1991 Gulf War. International benchmark Brent crude traded up more than 8% Tuesday over $37 a barrel. In a filing made Tuesday on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock market, Aramco — formally known as the Saudi Arabian Oil Co. — said that the increase in production represented a rise of 300,000 barrels per day. Analysts said that likely would involve releasing stored barrels as well.

Securities and Exchange Commission employees have been encouraged to work remotely for the foreseeable future after a coronavirus scare at the agency’s Washington headquarters. The agency, which oversees the financial markets, said it was informed Monday afternoon that a headquarters employee had received medical treatment for respiratory symptoms earlier in the day. The employee, who was not identified, was informed by a doctor that they may have been infected with the coronavirus and was referred for testing, the SEC said in a statement. Among other precautions, the agency “is encouraging headquarters employees to telework until further guidance,” it said. The SEC is the first major federal agency to employ teleworking in an effort to contain the virus’ spread.

Italian doctors celebrated one small victory in their battle against the coronavirus after a 38-year-old man was moved out of intensive care for the first time since he tested positive Feb. 21 and opened Italy’s health care crisis as Patient No. 1. But in the rest of hard-hit northern Italy, the virus’ spread was growing so exponentially that doctors were making comparisons to war-time triage medics deciding who lives, who dies and who gets access to the limited number of ICU beds. “It’s a reasoning that our colleagues make,” Dr. Guido Giustetto, head of the association of doctors in northern Piedmont, said Monday.

Thousands of passengers aboard a cruise ship struck by the coronavirus waited anxiously Tuesday for their turn to leave the vessel, even if it meant being shipped to military bases for weeks of quarantine. After days of being forced to idle off the Northern California coast, the Grand Princess docked Monday at the Port of Oakland with some 3,500 passengers and crew on board. “We’re trying to stay calm and were trying to stay positive but it’s getting harder and harder. They can’t make up their minds how to keep us safe,” said Beryl Ward, 77, of Santa Fe, New Mexico.