Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was criticized this week for seemingly suggesting that the coronavirus was an "ethnically targeted" bioweapon that targeted certain races while "sparing others, including Jews and Chinese.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

RFK Jr. made the remarks during a recent campaign event, video of which was obtained by the New York Post and published on Saturday.

"COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately," Kennedy said. "COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese."

"We don't know whether it was deliberately targeted or not but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact," he said.

"We do know that the Chinese are spending hundreds of millions of dollars developing ethnic bioweapons and we are developing ethnic bioweapons," he claimed. "They're collecting Russian DNA. They're collecting Chinese DNA so we can target people by race."

Nevertheless, several figures came to Kennedy's defense, saying his words were taken out of context and misunderstood.

"The suggestion by the media, or indeed Jewish organizations who do not know him, that because of his musings about bio-weapons that he is somehow antisemitic is more than unfair –  it's a disgusting lie," said Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

Kennedy himself denied the allegations, saying, "The insinuation by the New York Post and others that, as as result of my quoting a peer-reviewed paper on bio-weapons, I am somehow antisemitic, is a disgusting fabrication"

"I will fight relentlessly alongside my Jewish brothers and sisters and friends against Jew-hatred and the demonization of Israel," he said.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post RFK Jr. blasted for suggesting COVID was 'ethnically targeted' to spare Ashkenazi Jews appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Against the backdrop of an increase in coronavirus morbidity, the government decided Wednesday to boost vaccinations, specifically among the elderly and those with preexisting conditions.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

In a meeting between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, and the heads of Israeli health funds, officials decided to incentivize Israelis over the age of 60 to get their fourth shot of the vaccine with 100 shekels ($31).

The government also agreed on keeping the indoor mask mandate, which was supposed to end on April 1, in place until at least May 1.

Health experts also presented Bennett and Horowitz with a plan for dealing with a potential new COVID variant arriving in Israel. Measures include, among other things, canceling air travel and sealing the country's borders. No serious restrictions on the public are expected to be imposed at this time.

The IDF Military Intelligence Directorate has attributed the increase in the infection to the spread of the BA.2 variant, also known as "stealth Omicron," in the country and globally; the decline in the number of antibodies in individuals who have recovered from COVID some time ago; and a general decrease in the public's meticulousness with health guidelines, such as mask-wearing and social distancing.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry reported that on Friday morning that of the 66,986 Israelis it screened for COVID in the past 24 hours, 12,003 (17.92%) tested positive.

There are 67,026 active cases in the country with 753 patients hospitalized. Of those, 300 are in serious condition.

Thus far, 746,805 Israelis have been vaccinated with four shots, 4,473,250 with three, 6,127,207 with two, and 6,702,033 have received one shot.

Israel has reported 3,831,473 COVID cases, including 10,460 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020.

 Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories! 

The post Bennett presented with plan to tackle next possible COVID outbreak appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

A new coronavirus mutation has been identified in Israel, the Health Ministry reported Wednesday morning, saying it is a combination of the BA1 strain (Omicron) and its subvariant, BA2 (sometimes referred to as "stealth Omicron").

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Officials identified two such cases when testing arrivals at Ben-Gurion International airport. No other country has reported similar cases.

Both individuals exhibited light symptoms, including fever, headache, and muscle pain. Neither required special medical attention.
The ministry said it was closely monitoring the strain.

Coronavirus Commissioner Salman Zarka said about the strain, "This phenomenon occurs when two new strains meet, they reproduce and take traits from both strains. The infection most likely happened in Israel. A young woman infected a baby and her parents. The two flew abroad and when they returned, their test results at Ben-Gurion airport were tested for new variants, which is when the new strain was revealed."

When asked about the severity of the new mutation, Zarka said, "Omicron is very contagious compared to the Delta, it is still here and the reproduction rate began to rise even before the new strain [was detected.] Those who got infected have recovered already, and until now we have seen a light disease … We continue to monitor the phenomenon, but at this stage, we are not very concerned about the new mutation."

Due to the recent increase in the reproduction rate, Zarka called on the Israeli public to don masks indoors, follow health guidelines, and get vaccinated.

On Wednesday morning, the Health Ministry reported 6,310 news cases. Altogether, 57,708 Israelis were screened for the virus in the past 24 hours, which puts the infection rate at 10.93%.

There are 37,557 active cases in the country with 789 patients hospitalized. Of those, 335 are in serious condition.

Thus far, 736,786 Israelis have been vaccinated with four doses, 4,469,410 with three, 6,124,888 with two, and 6,700,861 have received one shot.

Israel has reported 3,734,462 cases, including 10,401 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020.

   Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories! 

The post Officials closely monitoring new COVID strain identified in Israel appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The Omicron coronavirus wave continues to decrease in Israel with 9,120 new cases reported by the Health Ministry on Friday morning. Altogether, 76,601 Israelis were screened for the virus in the past 24 hours, which puts the infection rate at 11.91%.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

There are 93,350 active cases in the country with 1,437 patients hospitalized. Of those, 653 are in serious condition: 276 are critically ill, 230 are on ventilators and 24 are connected to ECMO machines. Currently, 34,158 Israelis are in self-isolation.

Thus far, 725,541 Israelis have been vaccinated with four doses, 4,462,974 with three, 6,119,901 with two, and 6,698,743 have been inoculated with one shot.

Israel has reported 3,604,835 COVID cases, including 10,108 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020.

As Omicron begins to wane in other countries worldwide as well, governments begin to ease restrictions on public life.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to announce Friday a change to the metrics it uses to determine whether to recommend face coverings, shifting from looking at COVID case counts to a more holistic view of risk from the coronavirus to a community.

Under current guidelines, masks are recommended for people residing in communities of substantial or high transmission – roughly 95% of US counties, according to the latest data.

The new metrics will still consider caseloads, but also take into account hospitalizations and local hospital capacity, which have been markedly improved during the emergence of Omicron. The strain is highly transmissible, but indications are that it is less severe than earlier strains, particularly for people who are fully vaccinated and boosted.

Under the new guidelines, the vast majority of Americans will no longer live in areas where indoor masking in public is recommended, based on current data.

Iceland too is expected to lift all remaining COVID restrictions on Friday, including a 200-person indoor gathering limit and restricted opening hours for bars, the country's Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

"Widespread societal resistance to COVID-19 is the main route out of the epidemic," the ministry said in a statement, citing infectious disease authorities.

"To achieve this, as many people as possible need to be infected with the virus as the vaccines are not enough, even though they provide good protection against serious illness," it added.

All border restrictions would also be lifted, it said.

Iceland, with a population of some 368,000 people, has registered between 2,100 and 2,800 daily infections recently. More than 115,000 infections have been logged throughout the epidemic and 61 have died due to COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has signed a contract with Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Systems to build a software solution for global electronic verification of coronavirus vaccination certificates, the telecoms company said on Wednesday.

The QR code-based software solution will be used for other vaccinations as well, such as polio or yellow fever, T-Systems said in a statement, adding that the WHO would support its 194 member states in building national and regional verification technology. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

"Health is a strategic growth area for T-Systems," said T-Systems Chief Executive Officer Adel Al-Saleh.

T-Systems previously worked with SAP to develop Germany's Corona-Warn-App tracing and verification app and a Europe-wide digital COVID-19 vaccine verification system.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post WHO to build global COVID vaccine verification app appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that foreign tourists, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, would be required to take PCR coronavirus tests before their flights and upon landing. The rules go into effect on March 1.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

"We are seeing a constant decline in morbidity data, so it is time to gradually open up," Bennett said.

Israel has largely restricted the entry of foreign tourists for the past two years and virtually closed its skies to foreign visitors late last year with the arrival of the highly contagious omicron variant. Recent data has shown a sharp drop in new cases, mirroring patterns in other countries around the world.

Bennett's office said that restrictions would also be eased on Israelis returning to the country, with travelers no longer required to take a PCR test before their flight. Requirements for weekly testing of school children will also be halted in the coming weeks.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Unvaccinated tourists to be allowed into Israel starting March, government announces appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Coronavirus morbidity continued to decrease in Israel with 15,297 new cases reported by the Health Ministry on Friday morning. Altogether, 93,671 Israelis were screened for the disease, which puts the infection rate at 16.33%

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

There are 152,503 active cases in the country with 1,857 patients hospitalized. Of those, 827 are in serious condition, down by 59 from the day before. Currently, 37,015 Israelis are in quarantine.

Israelis continued to get vaccinated, with 708,952 having been inoculated with four doses, 4,459,073 with three, 6,116,553 with two, and 6,697,307 with one shot since the launch of the national immunization campaigns.

Israel has reported 3,517,258 cases, including 9,800 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020. Of those, 231 died in the past seven days, a 41% decrease from the week before.

As the Omicron wave continues to subside, and the government is poised to remove most restrictions on public life, Coronavirus Commissioner Salman Zarka warned on Thursday that declaring victory would be premature, seeing as "the daily caseload remains high."

"The B.12 [Omicron subvariant] can lead to serious illness among the at-risk population. It is important to protect the elderly population and get vaccinated with the third and fourth doses. We will continue to have different protective systems in place and work together with authorities."

Zarka also said, that "the working assumption is that the Omicron wave is not the last one. We will investigate the fifth [current] wave, learn lessons, and be prepared for the sixth one as well."

Nevertheless, the health chief stressed that "we need to find a way to live alongside COVID. Lockdowns and restrictions are not relevant. It is our duty to adapt our policy as morbidity decreases, which is exactly what we are doing."

Also on Thursday, the health committee that advises the Health Ministry proposed an outline that would no longer require Israelis to present proof of vaccination or recovery when entering event halls and shopping malls, cancel mandatory screening in schools, and even testing of individuals who came into contact with a confirmed COVID carrier, but do not exhibit any symptoms (with the exclusion of at-risk Israelis and nursing home workers).

In related news, a study by researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that individuals who recovered from COVID have a significantly higher chance of experiencing mental health problems, such as depression and PTSD.

The comprehensive study – published in the British Medical Journal – said that disorders arose within a year after recovery in patients who exhibit mild or serious symptoms. It included 153 848 participants.

Researchers found that COVID recoverees were 60% more likely to suffer from mental health problems than those who were not infected. This led to increased use of medication on their behalf and, in turn, an increased risk of substance abuse.

"We know from previous studies and personal experiences that the immense challenges of the past two years of the pandemic have had a profound effect on our collective mental health," Ziyad Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University who authored the study, said.

"But while we've all suffered during the pandemic, people who have had COVID-19 fare far worse mentally. We need to acknowledge this reality and address these conditions now before they balloon into a much larger mental health crisis."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Omicron subsiding, but wave not over, COVID chief warns appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The coronavirus infection wave continued to decrease in the past 24 hours, according to the latest Health Ministry data. On Monday, 123,001 Israelis were screened for the disease, of whom 23,555 tested positive. The morbidity rate stands at 19.15%.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

There are 178,118 active cases in the country with 2,155 patients hospitalized. Of those, 974 are in serious condition – 338 are critically ill, 279 are on ventilators and 27 are connected to ECMO machines. Currently, 35,854 Israelis are in quarantine.

Thus far, 699,505 Israelis have been vaccinated with four doses, 4,456,018 with three, 6,113,744 with two, and 6,696,058 have received one dose.

Israel has reported 3,460,914 cases, including 9,624 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020.

However, while the Omicron-fueled morbidity wave seems to be in retreat in Israel, a new wave of infections from the strain is moving towards the east of Europe, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, urging authorities to improve vaccination and other measures.

Over the past two weeks, cases of COVID-19 have more than doubled in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Russia, and Ukraine, WHO's Europe regional director Hans Kluge said in a statement.

The comments come at a time when several European countries including the Czech Republic and Poland have hinted at easing of COVID-19 restrictions next month if daily infection numbers kept falling. 

The WHO, however, stressed the continued need for measures such as rapid testing and masking, saying over 165 million COVID-19 cases have been recorded so far across the WHO European region, with 25,000 deaths in the past week.

"Faced with the Omicron tidal wave, and with Delta still circulating widely in the east, this worrying situation is not the moment to lift measures that we know work in reducing the spread of COVID-19," Kluge said.

He also called on governments to examine local reasons for low vaccination rates. Less than 40% of those aged over 60 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan have completed their COVID-19 vaccine series, he said.

In related news, new data shows that the immune response to COVID-19 helps protect against reinfection, but that protection is weaker against Omicron than it was against earlier variants of the coronavirus. 

A previous SARS-CoV-2 infection protects against Omicron reinfection only 56% of the time, researchers found in a review of national data in Qatar. Having had COVID was 90.2% effective against reinfection with the Alpha variant, 85.7% effective against a Beta variant reinfection, and 92% effective against Delta reinfection, researchers reported on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine.

As was the case with reinfection due to earlier variants, however, "the protection of previous infection against hospitalization or death caused by reinfection [with Omicron] appeared to be robust," they said. In cases of reinfection with Omicron, for example, the immune response to previous infection was 87.8% effective at preventing the second infection from progressing to severe or critical illness or death.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Omicron shows signs of retreating as 23,000 Israelis test positive for COVID appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The Health Ministry reported Friday morning that of the 146,642 Israelis it screened for the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, 36,858 (25.13%) tested positive.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

There are 326,756 active patients in the country with 2,479 patients hospitalized. Of those, 1,111 – 346 are critically ill, 264 are on ventilators and 23 are connected to ECMO machines. Currently, 44,645 Israelis are in quarantine.

Thus far, 684,848 Israelis have been vaccinated with four doses, 4,452,732 with three, 6,110,026 with two, and 6,694,595 have received one shot. 

Israel has reported 3,347,657 COVID cases, including 9,399 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020.

Meanwhile, Israeli researchers have found that the number of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies falls in both previously infected and vaccinated people, but the performance of antibodies improves only after previous infection and not vaccination.

This groundbreaking finding, led by Dr. Carmit Cohen of the Sheba Medical Center, will be presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in April.

Cohen and her colleagues analyzed antibody-induced immune response in 130 recovered individuals for up to a year and compared it to 402 matched individuals who were double-vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine but never had COVID-19.

The researchers found that the number of antibodies presents a month after vaccination was higher than in patients who had recovered from COVID-19. However, these numbers declined more steeply in the vaccinated group.

While the avidity – antibody performance quality – index was higher in vaccinated individuals than in recovered patients initially, avidity did not significantly change over time in vaccinated individuals but increased gradually in recovered patients.

This could explain why double-vaccinated individuals who never contracted COVID-19 are more likely to experience infection after six months.

The study also found that, contrary to expectations, antibodies of recovered patients with a body-mass index of 30 or higher (in the obese range) were higher at all time points when compared with those with a BMI under 30 (overweight to normal weight range). The obese people who had been previously infected were, therefore, better protected against future infection.

Of all recovered patients, 42 (36%) experienced long COVID, including mental health (5%), neurological (9%), cardiovascular (5%) and respiratory (31%) symptoms.

The authors conclude: "While the number of antibodies decreases with time in both COVID-19 recovered patients and vaccinated individuals, the quality of antibodies increases following infection but not after vaccination. These results provide specific characteristics of the immune response that may explain the differential protection against COVID-19 in previously infected and vaccinated individuals."

Another Israeli study – published in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics on Thursday – found that Pfizer's COVID vaccines are safe for human fetuses and not associated with harmful effects on newborns. 

The research is based on observations of 17,000 pregnant women who were vaccinated and 7,000 who were not between March and October 2021.

Scientists looked at preterm births, hospitalizations, congenital disabilities, and infant mortality, finding no statistical difference between the two groups in any area.

Infant mortality stood at 0.1% in both groups, and premature births were 4.2% for babies whose mothers were vaccinated and 4.8 % for those whose mothers were not. 

Defects were 1.5% for those vaccinated and 2.1% for those not vaccinated, and hospitalizations among newborns were 5.1% for vaccinated mothers and 5.3 % for those not vaccinated.

The study also shows that these results were valid for 2,000 newborns whose mothers were vaccinated during the first trimester – considered the most vulnerable period for fetuses.

 JNS.org, Israel21c and i24NEWS contributed to this report. 

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Antibodies perform best after COVID infection, not vaccine, Israeli study finds appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Prince Charles has tested positive for COVID-19, his office said on Thursday, the second time that the heir to the British throne has contracted the disease.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Charles, 73, had been due to attend an event in the southwestern English town of Winchester to mark the 70th anniversary of the accession of his mother Queen Elizabeth and was "deeply disappointed" he could no longer attend, his office, Clarence House, said.

"This morning The Prince of Wales has tested positive for COVID-19 and is now self-isolating," it said in a statement on Twitter.

There was no immediate comment on his condition. Charles' wife, Camilla, went ahead with engagements in London on Thursday, having tested negative.

On Wednesday, the prince attended a reception for the British Asian Trust where pictures showed him chatting to other guests including British finance minister Rishi Sunak and interior minister Priti Patel. A spokesperson for Sunak said the minister had tested negative for COVID on Thursday.

Charles, who said in December both he and Camilla had received their COVID-19 vaccine booster shots, previously tested positive for the virus in March 2020 when he said he had been "lucky" to have suffered only mild symptoms.

The post Prince Charles tests positive for COVID for 2nd time appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The Health Ministry reported 36,835 new coronavirus cases on Thursday morning. Altogether, 146,599 Israelis were screened for the disease in the past 24 hours, which puts the infection rate at 25.13%. 

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram  

The reproduction rate, which refers to the number of people each confirmed carrier infects, decreased by 0.02 and stands at 0.77, the lowest since October 2021.

There are 324,802 active cases in the country with 2,525 patients hospitalized. Of those, 1,123 are in serious condition. Currently, 40,404 Israelis are in quarantine, including 626 doctors and 1373 nurses. 

Thus far, 683,727 Israelis have been vaccinated with four doses, 4,452,487 with three, 6,109,763 with two, and 6,694,481 have received one shot.

Israel has reported 3,337,574 cases, including 9,370 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020.

Meanwhile, officials at the World Health Organization's Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office reported on Wednesday that Middle Eastern countries have seen a rise in coronavirus infections in the last six weeks due to low vaccination rates. 

Reported COVID-19 cases rose to a daily average of 110,000 in the past six weeks, while average daily deaths rose to 345 in the last three weeks, WHO regional director Ahmed Al-Mandhari said. 

According to Rana Hajjeh, director of program management, more than 35% of the region's population is fully vaccinated. But one quarter of the countries have not yet reached 10% vaccination coverage.

The WHO's Eastern Mediterranean region comprises the Middle East, Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, Djibouti, and Afghanistan, among others.

In other news, researchers in Hungary have discovered an early version of COVID-19 in samples from a Chinese biotechnology firm that appears to have been grown in a laboratory, according to a report by The Telegraph on Wednesday, lending weight to claims that the virus may have been engineered in a lab and accidentally leaked out.

The scientists made the discovery by accident when examining genetic data from soil samples collected from Antarctica in late 2018 and early 2019.

According to The Telegraph, the variant has mutations that bridge the gap between bat coronavirus and the earliest Wuhan strain, suggesting it may be an ancestral version of the virus. 

The samples were sent to Sangon Biotech in Shanghai for sequencing in December 2019, where they became contaminated with a previously unknown variant of COVID-19, the paper said. 

Chinese scientists – including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the suspected location for the leak – often used Sangon Biotech for sequencing. 

Although the exact date at which the DNA extraction took place is unknown, scientists say that if it took place in December 2019, the virus could be the ancestor of the original human Wuhan strain.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

In related news, Sweden scrapped almost all of its few pandemic restrictions on Wednesday and stopped most testing for COVID.

The moves came even as the pressure on the healthcare systems remained high and some scientists begged for more patience in fighting the disease.

Sweden's government, which throughout the pandemic has opted against lockdowns in favor of a voluntary approach, announced last week it would scrap the remaining restrictions — effectively declaring the pandemic over — as vaccines and the less deadly Omicron variant have cushioned severe cases and deaths.

"As we know this pandemic, I would say it's over," Health Minister Lena Hallengren told daily Dagens Nyheter. "It's not over, but as we know it in terms of quick changes and restrictions it is," she said, adding that COVID would no longer be classified as a danger to society.

As of Wednesday, bars and restaurants will be allowed to stay open after 11 p.m. again with no limits on the number of guests. Limits for larger indoor venues were also lifted, as was the use of vaccine passes.

Sweden follows Scandinavian neighbor Denmark in removing most COVID restrictions. Denmark last week became one of the first European Union countries to remove most restrictions, saying that COVID was no longer considered "a socially critical disease."

i24NEWS contributed to this report.

The post COVID rising in Middle East, WHO warns appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.