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.

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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. 

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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%. 

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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.

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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.

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The Health Ministry reported 1,263 serious COVID cases on Sunday morning, the highest ever since the outbreak of the pandemic two years ago. Of those, 366 are critically ill, 291 are on ventilators and 19 are connected to ECMO machines. Altogether, 2,888 COVID patients are currently hospitalized. 

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Nevertheless, the infection rate continues to decrease and currently stands at 28.79%. Of the 115,904 Israelis who were screened for the virus in the past 24 hours, 33,374 tested positive. There are 335,727 active cases in the country with 53,646 people in self-isolation. Thus far, 661,355 Israelis have been vaccinated with four doses, 4,447,657 with three, 6,102,839 with two, and 6,692,594 have received one shot.

Israel has reported 3,167,112 COVID cases, including 9,139 deaths, since the start of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, a study by the British Office for National Statistics found that triple-vaccinated individuals were 93.4% less likely to die of coronavirus infection, compared to the unvaccinated. As for doubly-vaccinated people, the mortality risks were also much lower, but to a lesser degree – 81.2%.

This means, that among those unvaccinated, the death rate stood at 462.2 per 100,000 individuals, compared to 33.1 per 100,000 fully vaccinated people 21 days after the inoculation, and eventually, as low as 24.5 per 100,000 fully inoculated.

As for those vaccinated with one dose, the mortality rate stood at 377.7 per 100,000 individuals, and with two doses, 367.7 per 100,000 people.

Nevertheless, the researchers emphasized that the goal of the research, which was conducted between July and December 2021 – was not to study the efficacy of the vaccine, but the difference between groups of vaccinated and mortality rates.

In related news, there is a realistic possibility of large waves of COVID infection in the future in Britain and such waves might even be considered likely, epidemiologists who model the pandemic to inform government advice have said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ditched legal restrictions in England, saying that, while the pandemic was not over, Britain needs to learn to live with COVID.

The Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, Operational sub-group (SPI-M-O) said the emergence of new viral variants was the biggest unknown factor in the medium-to-long term, along with waning population immunity and changes in mixing patterns.

"Large future waves of infection that need active management to prevent detrimental pressure on the health and care sector are, at least, a realistic possibility (high confidence) or likely (medium confidence)," SPI-M-O said in a consensus statement published on Friday.

Britain has reported 157,730 COVID deaths, the seventh-highest total globally, and Johnson has faced heavy criticism for his handling of the pandemic, with the country having seen three national lockdowns.

The Omicron variant fueled a spike in infections to new highs at the end of last year, prompting the premier to reintroduce some limited measures, but deaths did not rise at the same pace.

He has now reopened the economy fully, citing the country's program of booster shots, the availability of antivirals, and the lower severity of Omicron , as breaking the link between infections and deaths.

England returned to Plan A last week, and the chair of SPI-M-O told Reuters that while each year should see the COVID situation improve, there may be times where the government has to reintroduce measures.

"The next few years will be highly uncertain, and future outbreaks and waves will likely be noisy as things settle down," the SPI-M-O statement said.

"A steady, predictable pattern... may be many years away."

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The Health Ministry reported 46,347 coronavirus cases on Friday morning. Altogether, 185,992 Israelis were screened for the virus in the past 24 hours, which puts the infection rate at 24.92%. The reproduction rate stands at 0.9, the same as the day before. 

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There are 373,160 active cases in the country with 2,715 patients hospitalized. Of those, 1,132 are in serious condition. Currently, 73,229 Israelis are in self-isolation. 

Thus far, 658,505 Israelis have been vaccinated with four doses, 4,446,649 with three, 6,101,459 with two, and 6,692,301 have received one shot.

Israel has reported 3,094,984 cases, including 9,080 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020. Since Thursday morning, 67 Israelis have lost their life due to COVID.  

Meanwhile, a new study by researchers from Bar Ilan University and the Galilee Medical Center founds a strong link between vitamin D levels and the severity of COVID. 

Scientists concluded that vitamin D deficiency significantly increases the risk of serious illness or death upon contracting the virus. The findings were published on Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One.

"We found it remarkable and striking to see the difference in the chances of becoming a severe patient when you are lacking in vitamin D compared to when you're not," Dr. Amiel Dror, a Galilee Medical Center physician and Bar Ilan researcher who was part of the team behind the study, told The Times of Israel.

The study is based on research conducted during Israel's first two waves of the coronavirus before vaccines became widely available.

Another Israeli study published last summer came to similar conclusions about increased chances of becoming seriously ill or dying with COVID if there is vitamin D deficiency. 

The research conducted in a Galilee hospital found that 26% of coronavirus patients with vitamin D deficiency died versus 3% for other patients.

"What we're seeing when vitamin D helps people with COVID infections is a result of its effectiveness in bolstering the immune systems to deal with viral pathogens that attack the respiratory system," Dror said. "This is equally relevant for Omicron as it was for previous variants."

In related news, South Africa – where the Omicron strain was first detected – is seeing more cases of the BA.2 subvariant, sometimes called "stealth Omicron", with no clear indication that it is substantially different from the original mutation, a senior scientist said on Friday.

Michelle Groome, from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, showed in a presentation that BA.2 accounted for 23% of the 450 samples from January sequenced by South Africa's genomic surveillance network and the original strain 75%.

Of the 2,243 samples from December that were sequenced, BA.2 accounted for 4% and the original strain 94%.

"We are seeing this increase with the BA.2, we are still trying to get more information on this particular sub-lineage ... and so we are increasing sequencing from those provinces where we are seeing increases [in cases] monitoring the proportion that is due to BA.2," Groome told a news conference.

"At this stage, there is no indication that there would be ... differences between these different sub-lineages of Omicron. As we saw with Delta there were lots of lineages and we didn't see a lot of difference between them, but we will keep monitoring," she added.

Asked whether there were signs BA.2 was causing different symptoms, she said she was not expecting marked changes, adding that scientists will analyze hospitalization data for clues about the severity of illness linked to the subvariant. 

i24NEWS contributed to this report.

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Over 9,000 Israelis have died since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic two years ago, according to Health Ministry data published on Thursday morning. The current death toll stands at 9,013 cases, which means that one in 1,000 Israelis have lost his or her life to COVID.

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As for the infection rate, it stands at 28.56%, with 60,537 Israelis having tested positive for the disease in the past 24 hours, of the 211,987 tested altogether. The reproduction rate decreased slightly and stands at 0.9.

There are 434,322 active cases in the country with 2,733 patients hospitalized. Of those, 1,147 are in serious condition. Currently, 80,745 Israelis are in quarantine, including 890 doctors and 1,948 nurses.

Thus far, 652,887 Israelis have been vaccinated with four doses, 4,445,084 with three, 6,098,496 with two, and 6,691,702 have received one shot.

Israel also surpassed the three million caseload mark since the outbreak of the pandemic. It has reported 3,049,005 infections since March 2020, including 9,013 deaths.

Meanwhile, the IDF Home Front Command continues to monitor the spread of the highly infection BA.2 Omicron subvariant.

"The strain continues to spread in countries worldwide, currently without a uniform pattern," it said. "Due to its high transmission rate and [countries'] delay in caseload reports, its actual spread is considered to be more significant than reported."

In South Africa, the country that first detected Omicron, but that also first reported a decrease in its infection wave, has said recently that BA.2 cases are on the rise, making up 30% of daily caseloads. The offshoot now makes up most of the cases in Denmark, where BA.2 began spreading in mid-January. The subvariant has also been reported in India, Qatar, and the Philippines.

Professor Cyrille Cohen, head of the Immunotherapy Lab at Bar Ilan University, said his team has been following the new mutation.

"We have received reports that in very rare occurrences, people that were infected with Omicron could also… be infected with BA.2," he said stressing that although such reinfections do occur, they are uncommon.

Cohen also added that the BA.2 offshoot differs from Omicron in subtle ways. BA.2, often dubbed "stealth Omicron" by the media, is commonly referred to as a relative of the strain – a COVID variant that is largely considered to be milder than previous offshoots.

"Compared to Delta or Alpha, Omicron is a very mild variant in terms of severe disease," Cohen said, expressing hope that through natural exposure and vaccines, the morbidity wave could ebb.

He also seconded the government's decision to phase out the use of the so-called "green pass" vaccine certificates, which grant vaccinated or recovered COVID patients access to some public spaces, given the spread of the virus in Israel.

i24NEWS contributed to this report.

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The coronavirus infection rate decreased slightly in the past 24 hours and currently stands at 26.15%, according to Health Ministry data published on Wednesday morning. Altogether, 230,715 Israelis were screened for the virus on Tuesday, of whom 60,329 tested positive.

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The reproduction rate, which refers to the number of people each confirmed carrier infects, also decreased slightly and now stands at 0.91. Any value below 1 means that the infection is subsiding.

There are 435,189 active cases in the country with 2,763 patients hospitalized. Of those, 1,085 are in serious condition – 316 are critically ill, 260 are on ventilators and 17 are connected to ECMO machines. Currently, 91,239 Israelis are in quarantine, of whom 6,644 are healthcare personnel, including 914 doctors and 2,199 nurses.

Thus far, 647,831 Israelis have been vaccinated with four doses, 4,443,628 with three, 6,096,034 with two, and 6,691,819 have received one shot.

Israel has reported 2,987,977 COVID cases, including 8,926 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020.

Ministry data also showed that several Israelis who recovered after contracting the Omicron variant went on to get infected with its subvariant BA.2. As such, experts fear that the antibodies created after the Omicron infection do not protect one against its mutation. Similar data was also reported in countries worldwide.

Although it is not yet clear whether BA.2 is more dangerous than the original Omicron strain, it is thought to be about 1.5 times more infectious. Countries that detected the subvariant have since reported an increase or renewal in morbidity. A Danish study that analyzed coronavirus infections in more than 8,500 Danish households between December and January said that not only is BA.2 more infections, it is also more resistant to vaccines.

Nevertheless, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday that the subvariant does not seem to be any more severe than the original BA.1 form.

Dr. Boris Pavlin of the WHO's coronavirus response team told an online briefing that the subvariant is already becoming dominant in the Philippines, Nepal, Qatar, India, and Denmark.

He added, "Vaccination is profoundly protective against severe disease, including for Omicron. BA.2 is rapidly replacing BA.1. Its impact is unlikely to be substantial, although more data are needed."

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyeus also said on Tuesday that 90 million cases of COVID have been reported since Omicron was first identified 10 weeks ago – amounting to more than in all of 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With many countries easing their restrictive measures amid public fatigue about them, Ghebreyeus cautioned that Omicron should not be underestimated even though it has been shown to bring less severe illness than earlier variants – and cited "a very worrying increase in deaths in most regions of the world."

"We are concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that because of vaccines – and because of Omicron's high transmissibility and lower severity – preventing transmission is no longer possible and no longer necessary," he told a regular WHO briefing on the pandemic.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," Tedros added. "It's premature for any country either to surrender or to declare victory. This virus is dangerous and it continues to evolve before our very eyes."

WHO said four of its six regions worldwide are seeing increasing trends in deaths. And yet, many European countries have begun easing lockdown measures, including Britain, France, Ireland, and the Netherlands. Finland will end its COVID-19 restrictions this month. Denmark's government scrapped most restrictions aimed at fighting the pandemic this week, saying it no longer considers COVID-19 "a socially critical disease." The nation of 5.8 million has in recent weeks seen more than 50,000 new cases a day, but the number of patients in intensive care units has declined.

Also on Tuesday, Pfizer drug manufacturer asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize extra-low doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children under five, potentially opening the way for them to start receiving shots as early as March.

Pfizer aims to give children as young as 6 months shots that contain one-tenth of the dose given to adults. The company said it had started submitting its data to the FDA and expects to complete the process in a few days.

The FDA said it will convene a panel of independent researchers and physicians in mid-February to help review the Pfizer data. The agency isn't required to follow their advice, but the input is a key step in publicly vetting vaccine safety and effectiveness.

Meanwhile, the Knesset ruled on Monday that the so-called "green pass" vaccine certificates will only be checked at the entrance to public events where there is a high risk of contagion, such as weddings held indoors. The ruling will go into effect next Sunday.

The government also decided that Israelis who have gotten vaccinated with the booster shots will be eligible for the pass indefinitely. For those who received only two doses, the pass will be valid for four months.

Lawmakers also ruled that COVID tests will no longer be mandatory for unvaccinated Israelis traveling abroad, though they may still be necessary in the destination country.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said at the meeting that the vaccines were "working well against severe illness and infections" as the reproduction rate is on the decrease.

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In related news, medics and nurses staffing Israel's coronavirus wards have recently lamented the shortage of manpower in parallel to the influx of patients.  

"The staff is exhausted," Yoram Weiss, acting director-general of Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, said. "It's not like at the beginning of the pandemic when everybody was full of energy."

COVID wards have been filling up fast while numbers of staff due to Omicron, which has also sent many healthcare workers into quarantine, affecting the quality of care.

"We have on average 10-15% fewer doctors and nurses, while we need 20-30% more because of the flood of patients," Dror Mevorach, who heads Hadassah's coronavirus ward, told Reuters.

The shortage has also forced hospitals to divert resources to COVID wards, cutting back on other procedures, and in mid-January, several scientists urged the government to intervene to reduce infection rates.

They warned that the sudden influx of severely ill patients – most aged over 60 and many with serious pre-existing health conditions – would overwhelm a chronically under-resourced health system. 

But the government, backed by other experts and with almost 65% of Israel's 9.4 million population vaccinated with a recent booster jab or second dose, has stuck to the softer-touch "living alongside COVID " approach to managing the virus that it adopted last summer.

It has rolled back restrictions while urging the public to self-test and stay at home if they are sick – mirroring moves in several Western nations such as Britain and France.

In January, it cut isolation times and cut quarantine for schoolchildren exposed to a carrier.

For Dvir Aran, a biomedical data scientist at Technion – Institute of Technology in Haifa, the government's moves have been "like watching a train wreck in slow motion".

But other professionals welcome what they see as a call for citizens to take personal responsibility while arguing that any restrictions are likely to have only a limited impact on the highly contagious Omicron.

"The government shouldn't be running a kindergarten, ensuring you stay home when you're sick," Yael Haviv-Yadid, head of the critical care ward at Sheba Medical Center said. 

"Be responsible. Wear a mask and get vaccinated," she said.

i24NEWS contributed to this report.

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It would be hard to say that the timing is perfect for Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to give an interview. The country is in the midst of a fifth, tough wave of COVID, even confirmed carriers don't know what strain they have; the new quarantine guidelines for schools is causing controversy and confusion between the staffs of the education and health ministries; and a plan to compensate businesses is also being met with confusion and bitterness. But the Prime Minister's Office has decided that perhaps because of all this, it's time to set the record straight.

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"I'm being interviewed at the peak of the pandemic, not when it's behind us, to tell the public that everything is under control. When we see the end, we need to protect the elderly and the children," Bennett tells Israel Hayom.

"Israel's management of the Delta and Omicron wave is almost the best in the world, based on a sane Israeli model that on one hand doesn't deny COVID – we already know it isn't the flu and causes a lot of damage. On the other hand, I'm not rushing to pull the trigger on the lockdowns that were a key tool here last year. The model is to keep the economy running amid Omicron. We are almost first in the world in the extent of testing, and it works. We were the first in the world to bring in the Pfizer drug," he says.

Q: We're also first in the world in new cases.

"And the first with the second booster, which is proving itself and saving lives. We have the strongest plan in the world to protect the elderly. That is the Israeli way – initiative, action, not sending everyone home, but keeping the economy operating."

Q: But there is a sense of denial. You once spoke of 'pincers' and a smart operation, and it looks like the government has thrown up its hands. There was a lot of time to prepare for this wave, like vaccinating kids in school.

"We prepared ahead of time and did a lot. My decision to close down air travel bought us three to four weeks in which we vaccinated 600,000 elderly [with a second booster], which prevented extensive loss of life. In that period, we acquired drugs and we built the antigen [testing] system, which didn't exist when I took office. For a year and a half, you couldn't buy antigen testing kits in stores. I opened the market and we brought in suppliers. Now the price for a test in stores is eight shekels ($2.50)."

Q: Still, these are costs the people have to shoulder. There are families that have needed dozens of tests in the past few weeks.

"We have just handed out three testing kits to each public school student, and we'll distribute 20 more under the new plan."

Q: But I asked you about early vaccination for kids. Most new cases aren't from the elderly, but from schools.

"I, as the government, can buy the vaccines and make them accessible. Ultimately, it's the responsibility of each person to get vaccinated. We aren't forcing the vaccines on people and each parent is making their own decision on the matter. At the end of the day, the parents are responsible for their children. To set a personal example, I took my son David to get vaccinated in the first couple of days. There is a need for the public to cooperate. The good news is that the public is demonstrating maturity and understanding that it is in partnership with the government."

'We won't fight the previous war'

Q: Are you at peace with the education minister's decision not to provide vaccinations at schools, even if the Education Ministry could have saved mass transmission?

"If I look to either side, at the countries that shut down schools or the countries where there is no problem, I think that [the situation] is being managed – and I take personal responsibility – according to a rational, very proactive, Israeli model. The guiding principle is good, and allows the country to keep running. We haven't declared a day of lockdown. We began the school year as scheduled, and I'm talking about a once-in-a-century pandemic. Compared to the rest of the world, we're OK. We are discussed as a model. I was the first world leader who informed the public about the Omicron variant and shut down air travel. The previous concept was to tell the public 'don't leave your homes, we'll give you money.' Now the concept is a lot of activity. In the past, I've spoken about a hammer vs. pincers. The hammer is a lockdown, and I don't think we need to go there. The pincer is testing.

"We've made a huge effort, but ultimately, when it comes to schools where a mobile vaccination station is set up and only 13 out of 400 [students] bring a permission slip for the vaccine, it's not necessarily a success. Nothing can replace parental responsibility. I'm calling on anyone who still hasn't gotten vaccinated to get vaccinated. We're also the first to know that the second booster works."

Q: It took a long time to decide on the new quarantine guidelines. It's strange, considering that there's a de facto lockdown. For a long time, parents aren't going to work and children have been at home.

"I'm not denying that there's a tsunami here. I said at the beginning that we'd be seeing 20,000 to 50,000 new cases a day. We were well prepared as a government. We are compensating parents for the loss [of work days]. We raised the payment for a lost work day from 430 shekels [$134] to 570 shekels [$178]. People who look at the situation with a rational, open mind say, 'Wow, the government is doing the right thing – neither hysteria nor irresponsibility.' For the kids, this is the right time to transition to the mass testing approach. Every kid in Israel will start getting tested twice a week. It's an exceptional tool to fight a pandemic."

Q: Is this how we beat a pandemic?

"A pandemic is defeated through a lot of initiative, a lot of flexibility. When you don't fight the previous war. You manage a pandemic looking ahead, not back."

Q: One of the disadvantages in being a public figure is that people always remind you of things you said in the past. More so, things you wrote. Do you regret your book [How to Defeat a Pandemic]?

"Not at all!" Bennett turns to the large bookshelf behind him glancing at the biographies and other books in a variety of languages and on a number of subjects, and asks his advisors, "Do we have a copy here?'

The Twitter nation is looking for reasons to joke about that book, which among other things branded Bennett as the man to handle COVID. Bennett is proud of what he wrote, saying, "Actually, everything I preached I'm practicing. I said, opt for testing rather than lockdowns. I said, 100,000 tests [a day], and people told me it was a dream. But we're actually at 400,000! I said, protect the elderly – and we're executing a plan to do so. When I took office everything was falling apart. I said we needed a tool for oversight, that we needed technology, and I set up dozens of sewage testing sites. I'm implementing those exact views," he says.

"Anyone who wants hysteria won't get it from us. I want a government without drama, one that gets up in the morning and gets down to work. In this government we do that, we've been doing that for seven months."

Seven months after it was formed, the discourse is still focused on Bennett's predecessor. In a series of media interviews, Bennett inserted a video about the new quarantine regulations that sniped at Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who is still a key motif in nearly every issue.

Q: Are you still right-wing?

"I'm right-wing, and my positions haven't changed. I still oppose a Palestinian state. A lot of people on the Right tell me quietly that this is a good government. We agree on 70% of the issues. We agree we need better education, and need to fight crime, and build more homes. I feel like this government is saving us.

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"At the same time, I'm saying to people on the Right: 'Look, the prime minister is a man of the Right.' I stood up to the president of the US who asked me about opening a consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem, and looked him straight in the eye and said, 'Mr. President, you're a true friend of Israel, but I can't answer because Israel has only one capital, Jerusalem, and it is the capital of only one country, Israel.' On the deepest subjects, things are very clear to me. The biggest is that this is a mixed government, but ultimately, that is the policy. In a historic meeting, we brought the entire coalition – Right and Left – to the Golan Heights and decided to double settlement there. It was an exciting move."

Q: You know, even people on the Left are in favor of keeping the Golan Heights.

"So why have we been stuck with only 25,000 Jews living there for decades?"

Q: Maybe because there aren't any jobs?

"Fine. We're working on it, because not too long from now, if we don't, the world will say that Syria has stabilized, let's give up the Golan Heights for the sake of peace."

Q: But when I try to count the achievements of the Right vs. the Left, I see that highway infrastructure development in Judea and Samaria has stopped; that a law has been passed to provide electricity to Bedouin; that Ayelet Shaked's citizenship law failed to pass; that tree-planted in the Negev has stopped; that settlement outposts are being demolished and there are hilltops in Judea and Samaria no one has touched for years.

"No, the opposite. For years, the government handed suitcases full of cash over to Hamas. When I took office, I stopped those transfers. The previous government canceled the Jerusalem Day flag march, and I reinstated it. I just don't make a fuss over every single thing. I told you about the consulate. We've also built in Judea and Samaria – my predecessor didn't build there under the Biden administration. Am I doing everything I want to do? No. When it comes to the tree plantings and the Bedouin, that same night people told me there had been threats and violence. There were a few who said not to plant the trees, and I said they should be planted the next day. There are laws, and they can bring in as many police as they need to – trees will be planted, and after that, I'm willing to talk with everyone.

"The Arab crime that exploded on us during Operation Guardian of the Walls is a matter that has been neglected for years. I set up a team of ministers under my leadership and we're making life miserable for criminal leaders in the Arab sector. Some have fled the country and we're using creative means to pursue them. I'm satisfied, but this is a unity government. It's true. This isn't a government of one side."

Q: You say there are no more suitcases of money for Hamas, but there was already money being deducted from Palestinian Authority [tax revenue], and Defense Minister Benny Gantz gave the PA a loan that will clearly never be paid back. Regional Cooperation Minister Esawi Frej traveled to countries that donate to the PA and asked them to continue.

"This is a complicated government, because the guys on the Right were the ones who insisted on bringing us to a fifth election. They attached themselves to a person rather than to positions. It was a choice between putting the country into an endless spin, a rift, or dropping the ball on a number of issues. This led to a lag in military issues that I'm now closing. I made a decision. I've always invited our friends from the Bibi bloc to join us, but they need to decide which side their bread is buttered on. They made a wrong choice, days before the fifth election. I acted responsibly and I'm proud of it."

'There is a strategy to execute'  

Q: When you look at the unity government and the status quo, it appears as if the Left is violating it and the Right respects it."

"The left-wing side says the same thing. So the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. For the first time, there are no talks with the Palestinians. Instead, we are handling the Golan Heights and Hamas. That didn't exist with Bibi. After seven months of an aggressive approach, I said that an explosives-laden balloon would be met with the same response as a rocket. We're hitting Hamas targets after ignoring them for years, starting with the first arson balloon. A new national camp has arisen that doesn't depend on one person, but is founded on a path. As prime minister, I'm leading that camp. It's a camp that isn't based on rejecting others, but on activity. I'm an activist. I'm saying to our religious Zionist friends, on the Right, there is a prime minister who is right-wing, who wears a kippa. I'm a person of faith and that's important, because I act according to my values."

Q: How?

"In dealing with international leaders, I stand up for our interests. When it comes to Jerusalem, when it comes to the Land of Israel, when it comes to Iran."

Q: What is happening with Iran?

"We inherited a horrible legacy, even before the government was founded. Iran has enriched [uranium] to 60% in facilities it didn't used to have, and gone further than it ever has. When I entered office, I saw the size of the hole we'd been left. We are investing billions in building up our military prowess. That bolsters my right-wing views in the sense that we only have ourselves to depend on. I appreciate our friendship with America, but we need to defend ourselves, and not only with words."

Q: What does that mean, practically speaking?

"I look at Iran as an ongoing battle. For decades, Iran has been an octopus whose tentacles are gripping Israel and Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, and Syria, and Israel has fallen into the trap and is bleeding, while Iran itself – the root of the evil – is safe and distant. We have a cold war by one side only – they hit us, and we don't hit them back. We're changing that equation. We're working every angle to weaken Iran … We'll keep taking action and we won't give up. It's no coincidence we stepped up the number of airstrikes in Syria, as well as the kind of strikes and quality of the targets. This is making things difficult for Iran."

Q: And when a new Iran nuclear deal is signed?

"The process toward a new deal in Vienna is very wrong. With or without a deal, we have a strategy to execute. Even if a new deal is signed, Israel won't be obligated to it. We aren't part of it, and Israel will retain full freedom of action in any situation. I'm implementing that daily and not only in words, but also in actions."

Q: Gantz has met with PA leader Mahmoud Abbas, Lapid with his predicted successor, and former IDF Chief Gadi Eizenkot is talking about entering politics and a vision for two states. Is it possible that new Oslo Accords are being formed right under your nose, to be implemented as soon as the rotation for prime minister takes place?

"As long as I'm prime minister, there is no Oslo process, and if there will be one, there won't be a government. I oppose a Palestinian state and am also not allowing talks on the line of a Palestinian state."

Q: The frequent meetings with Abbas and his successor aren't feelers for a new Oslo deal?

"I won't meet with anyone who persecutes IDF soldiers in the [International Criminal Court] in The Hague and sends money to murderers. My partners – Gantz and Lapid – hold different views. They represent the Left's positions, and that's legitimate as long as when it comes to action, we stay within the common ground we established."

Q: These meetings aren't actions?

"No. My predecessor also met with Abbas a number of times, and with Palestinian flags waving in the background. It's not the end of the world. I'm not judging my partners. I'm allowing it. They don't have the authority to move on diplomatic issues. They are talking about economics, and I'm in favor of strengthening trade with the Palestinians."

'Not looking for a quick win'

Q: A year ago one could hear the education minister talking about vaccines, the health minister talking about making decisions based on data, and the finance minister talking about the Haredim or the settlements and know what Naftali Bennett thought. Now the public has the sense that it is certain about the prime minister's ideology.

"My values and views haven't changed. I'm a Jewish Israeli, a right-wing patriot, and my parents raised me on these values. That hasn't changed. What has become significant is that as prime minister I see supreme importance in unity and connection. We need to calm down. We lost the first and second temples, we won't get another chance and we don't need to highlight differences and increase hatred."

Q: Do you think the people understand that?

"That's my mission. I'm not looking for a quick win. I come with a different compass – I don't owe anything to any lobbyist, only to God and the people of Israel, and I believe that ultimately, the public wants these considerations and this path. Ideologically, the distance between a Yamina member and a Likud member isn't large. There is no dispute about the Land of Israel. The dispute is about the path we take. Do we curse and scream at each other? An hour after a former Supreme Court chief justice dies, do we take the approach of [MK Bezalel] Smotrich and say nasty things? They took the name 'Religious Zionist,' but they don't have the rights to that path. I was raised in religious Zionism, and it includes people who want to connect both sides."

Q: Your family is paying a heavy price. Is it worth it?

"The price is heavy. Especially for the kids, who didn't choose this and don't like it at all. I always try to bring them in, explain what Dad is doing. Forming this government was the hardest thing I've done in my life, harder than any business or political move. I knew that a huge machine generating poison and hatred would be aimed at me and my children. Before the fifth election, I called my kids and Gilat, my wife, who are not involved, and told them I was going to do something. When I realized Bibi couldn't form another government and that we'd soon be having another election, I knew the country couldn't take it. Things were paralyzed and there wasn't even a budget for the IDF. I told my family – 'They'll say Dad is a traitor and call us names.'"

Q: Is your family counting down until Lapid takes over as prime minister?

"The kids are. But we're OK. Shabbat is the calm time, that's the stability and the normalcy, and in that sense, home is a real haven. My family is suffering, but I'm at peace with the move. I'm a man of faith and I have great confidence that I made the right move: we are an effective government, and that's the biggest privilege I could dream of – carrying the baton of leadership for the Jewish state. It's not something to take for granted.

"This time of the year 80 years ago, the Wannsee Conference took place, where the German systematically planed the genocide of the Jewish people. The lesson I take from that is that we need to fight for the country tooth and nail. So even if I have to pay a heavy price, it's a price I pay with understanding."

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Has the COVID pandemic changed people's priorities? The answer, of course, is "yes."

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A new study conducted in Britain in February 2021, seven months after the country instated a mask mandate for public spaces, found that women were more attracted to men wearing masks than to men with their faces exposed.

The results of the study, which have yet to undergo the peer review process, indicate that women's perception of what constitutes attractiveness in men has changed completely, since a similar study from Japan, conducted prior to the pandemic in 2016, found that woman were significantly more attracted to men whose faces were exposed than to men wearing face masks.

The lead researcher on the team was Dr. Michael Lewis of Cardiff University. Lewis' team took a group of 43 female students who looked at 40 faces of conventionally attractive men. The women were asked to rate how attractive they found each man, some of whom were wearing surgical masks in accordance with COVID regulations, some of whom were wearing surgical masks incorrectly, and some of whom were pictured without masks at all.

The men whose pictures showed them correctly wearing surgical masks were ranked the most attractive.

Lewis said he was not surprised by the results, noting that in the pre-pandemic Japanese study, women associated men in masks with illness. But today, he said, masks were associated with calm and protection, leading the women to feel more attraction to and sympathy with the men wearing masks.

The university plans to run a similar study to see whether or not men were more attracted to women wearing masks.

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Pfizer has begun a study comparing its original COVID-19 vaccine with doses specially tweaked to match the highly contagious Omicron variant.
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech announced the study on Tuesday.

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COVID-19 vaccine makers have been updating their shots to better match Omicron in case global health authorities decide the change is needed.
While Omicron is more likely than previous variants to cause infection even in people who have been vaccinated, it is not yet clear that a change to the vaccine recipe is needed.

The original vaccines still offer good protection against severe illness and death. Studies in the US and elsewhere have made clear that adding a booster dose strengthens that protection and improves the chances of avoiding a milder infection.

"We recognize the need to be prepared in the event this protection wanes over time and to potentially help address Omicron and new variants in the future," Kathrin Jansen, Pfizer's vaccine research chief, said in a statement.

The new US study is enrolling up to 1,420 healthy adults, ages 18 to 55, to test the updated Omicron-based shots for use as a booster or for primary vaccinations. Researchers will examine the tweaked vaccine's safety and how it revs up the immune system in comparison to the original shots.

In one study group, about 600 volunteers who received two doses of the current Pfizer vaccine three to six months ago will receive either one or two Omicron-based shots as boosters. Another 600 who have already gotten three regular doses of the Pfizer vaccine will be given a fourth dose of either the regular vaccine or the Omicron-matched version.

The study also will enroll some unvaccinated volunteers who will receive three doses of the Omicron-based vaccine.

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Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton called on the government Wednesday to cancel its quarantine guidelines for school children that have confined thousands of kids – and their parents – to their homes.

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She called on lawmakers to allow all students – vaccinated and unvaccinated – to take one antigen test if they come into contact with a confirmed coronavirus carrier and if negative, return to studies immediately.

Currently, only vaccinated pupils have such an option, while unvaccinated children are required to self-isolate for seven days if they are exposed to a COVID carrier.

According to data, only about a quarter of Israel's 1.3 million children between the ages of 5-11 – who are eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine – have done so, and only 12% got both shots.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also said that the guidelines should be changed. He is expected to meet with senior health and education officials in the upcoming days to discuss the matter.

One possible outline sees students perform daily testing, allowing them to continue studies from school full-time. As such, only pupils who are found to be infected with COVID will be required to self-isolate.

Several MKs have expressed support for the re-examination of the current quarantine guidelines, including Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who spoke in support of the move at a tour of the Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba earlier in the week.

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