Professionals from hospitals, community clinics, academia, and the Health Ministry attended the discussion, presenting a comprehensive review of flu infection data. After examining the latest intelligence, the team of experts recommended issuing a call for the entire population to vaccinate against the virus.

The experts emphasized that while the vaccine does not guarantee total immunity against infection, it is a significant factor in mitigating the severity of the disease and dramatically reducing the risk of severe illness and mortality.

Doctors on the team recommended that individuals with symptoms remain at home until recovery to avoid exposing others to the illness. They also called on parents to avoid sending sick children to schools and kindergartens to prevent infecting other children.

The Health Ministry emphasized that the vaccine is safe, recommended for ages six months and up, and constitutes the most effective protection for the public. The vaccine is available free of charge at the HMOs.

The ministry stated that professional bodies within the Health Ministry would continue to discuss strategies to increase flu vaccination rates as well as other issues raised during the discussion.

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Israel is seeing an increase in the number of COVID cases among children, and the healthcare system is already at peak capacity in the intensive care units, Chief COVID-19 Officer at the Health Minister Professor Salman Zarka said Monday at a meeting of government officials.

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The number of confirmed COVID cases in Israel now tops 1,000 for the first time in two months, the Health Ministry reported Monday morning.

The 1,004 new cases identified by testing in the last 24 hours is the highest since Oct. 20, and the reproduction rate in Israel continues to rise, reaching 1.22 on Monday, compared to 1.14 on Sunday. This means that every confirmed COVID carrier spreads the virus to an average of 1.22 other people.

There were 7,231 active or symptomatic COVID-19 patients in Israel on Monday, including 81 listed in serious condition. A total of 42 hospitalized patients were on ventilators. The total death toll from COVID-19 since the pandemic hit Israel in early 2020 stands at 8,232, with no new deaths reported since Saturday, Dec. 18.

On Sunday night, Zarka said in an interview to Israel Hayom that he expected there would be "thousands" of COVID patients in Israel within two weeks.

"We're heading into a wave that's unlike anything we've seen in the past. The numbers will be higher," he warned.

"The Delta variant was a very contagious wave, whereas Omicron is two to four times as contagious. The fact that today [Sunday] we have 175 confirmed Omicron cases is the result of our rapid response three weeks ago, when we stopped tourism. Without that, we could already have thousands," Zarka said.

Zarka also noted that the Health Ministry's strategy to combat Omicron was to open some 500 vaccination sites by the end of this week, some of which will be located at shopping centers and community centers, in addition to vaccination-mobiles. The ministry hopes to make vaccinations accessible as possible to both children and adults, he said.

"We're very worried about the Omicron wave, which has already begun. If we look at Europe, we realize that we're two-three, at the most – weeks away, and we're trying to translate that to as much protection as possible among the population," he said.

Zarka stressed that vaccines provides the best form of protection: "This week, we're at about 80 vaccination sites and we want to increase that to 400-500, and I hope it will happen this week and at the start of next week. We need to do it for the sake of the people, from the realization that it's wrong to meet Omicron when you're not protected. In addition, we're working to make the community clinics more accessible so no one will have a problem coming to be vaccinated. We'll wash the country in vaccines," he said.

Zarka spoke after last week the percentage of children in the Arab Israeli center vaccinated against COVID jumped from 1.1% to 4.6%.

Healthcare authorities believe the increased vaccination rate to be the result of the campaign to provide vaccinations in schools.

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The first week Israel deployed vaccination-mobiles at public schools, a total of 11,745 children and 450 adults were vaccinated for COVID. The Health Ministry plans to expand its vaccination campaign and enlist hospital personnel to help with it. A senior ministry official said that the number of mobile vaccination stations would be increased from 50 to some 150, and that they would visit some 500 sites a day.

For now, the ministry has avoided taking advantage of the IDF Home Front Command's logistical capabilities to execute the campaign.

Meanwhile, a senior official in the government's campaign against COVID said that the country's contact tracing system was not prepared to handle a wave of new confirmed cases and that new personnel needed to be hired immediately.

"The current number of contact tracers is enough to handle 500 to 1,000 confirmed cases [per day], but when the numbers are on the rise, we need to prepare for the next stage, of 1,000 to 3,000 confirmed cases per day," the official said.

"The reason we aren't doing that is because there are some people who won't approve the budget for it, and it's frustrating. If we don't build up our personnel now, and quickly, we won't be able to handle the pace of contact tracing, no two ways about it. In two or three weeks we'll have a hard time with it," the official added.

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Lawmakers and shopping mall directors expressed opposition Tuesday after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz decided to apply the "Green Pass" vaccine certificate regulations to Israel's shopping malls

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According to the outline – to be approved by the cabinet and the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee – the guidelines will apply to all indoor complexes larger than 10,000 square meters (108,000 square feet), with digital certificates to be scanned by security personal at the entrance. Every vaccinated patron will receive a bracelet that will allow him or her to move around the mall freely. 

Unvaccinated Israelis will only be allowed to enter "essential" shops, with a list to be formulated by the government's legal advisors. Unvaccinated individuals will not receive a bracelet. 

Yisrael Beytenu MK Eli Avidar criticized the move, calling it a "hasty step that has no epidemiological logic and [that] disregards reality."

"It is a blow to business owners and a blow to citizens. The democratic public is losing the little trust it has left and in the culprits who participate in this madness," he said. 

Uri Abel, CEO of the Seven Stars shopping mall in Herzliya, told Israel Hayom, "I consider this a bad decision that is difficult to implement and enforce. It will create lines at the entrance as well as hostility. This is the exact opposite of the experience we want to create in the mall … I understand the intention of health [behind the move], but instead of rewarding those who want to get vaccinated, the whole population is punished."

The management of the Dizengoff Center shopping mall in Tel Aviv said in a statement, "At this point, the decision is not applicable, effective or relevant to reality, but once we get the full details we will understand its requirements and examine whether it can be implemented. We will continue to keep the center a safe space for all while respecting the rights of the individual."

Bennett and Nitzan also decided that children and adults who have been vaccinated with the first dose will receive a temporary "green pass" that will be valid for 30 days from the date of the first vaccination.

The two also introduced new guidelines for Israelis returning from abroad. 

Starting Friday, vaccinated individuals who return from so-called "red" countries will be required to take a coronavirus test at Ben-Gurion International Airport, sign an agreement, and self-isolate for seven days at home, at the end of which they will be required to take another PCR test. They will be able to exit quarantine after receiving their negative test results. 

Unvaccinated Israelis will also have to perform a coronavirus test upon arrival, isolate in a state-run hotel until they receive their test results, and if negative, sign an agreement and continue self-isolating for the rest of the seven days at home. They too will be required to take another PCR test at the end of the self-isolation period. If negative, they will be able to exit quarantined. If the individual tests positive at Ben-Gurion Airport, he or she will be required to self-isolate for the entire seven days at the state-run hotel.

Bennett also instructed officials to re-examine the criteria for adding states onto the government's no-fly list in an effort to curb the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant in Israel.

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Following the launch of Israel's campaign to vaccinate children against coronavirus, one of the most influential rabbis in Haredi circles called on parents Thursday to vaccinate their children.

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Senior health officials arrived at Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky's residence in Bnei Brak to discuss vaccine safety and ways to encourage vaccination among ultra-Orthodox children.

Among those who attended the meeting were Coronavirus Commissioner Salman Zarka, expert epidemiologist Professor Ran Balicer, and Kanievsky's personal physician, Dr. Meshulam Hart.

Zarka presented Kanievsky with the Food and Drug Administration approval for the children's vaccine, as well as data on efficacy and safety. He also stressed that the Health Ministry had recently reported a rise in coronavirus morbidity, with unvaccinated children comprising most of the new cases.

Balicer, who is director of Health Policy Planning at Clalit Health Fund, demonstrated post-vaccination data on millions of children in the United States and recent studies conducted in Israel and worldwide on the safety of children's vaccines, that showed that the risks of getting infected with the virus outweighed the potential side effects of inoculation.

Hart also spoke out in support of the shots.

Having carefully studied the data, Kanievsky ruled that children ages of five-11 should be vaccinated, and wished experts success in the national campaign.

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Health officials expressed concern Monday after the coronavirus reproduction rate rose to 1.08, signaling a spread of the disease in the country. 

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The Health Ministry reported Tuesday morning that of the 99,554 Israelis it screened for the virus in the past 24 hours, 682 (0.74%) tested positive. There are currently 5,904 active cases in the country with 172 patients hospitalized. Of those, 128 are in critical condition.

Thus far, 4,052,354 Israelis have been fully vaccinated, 5,766,304 received their third jabs and 6,267,456 got inoculated with one dose.

Israel has reported 1,341,305 COVID cases, including 8,177 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic in March, 2020.

Officials contributed the alarming rise in the reproduction rate to the raging morbidity rate in Europe. 

"The only thing that worries me at the moment is entries from abroad," Gili Regev-Yochay, director of Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, said. "Unvaccinated people also enter [Israel], and that can cause an outbreak."

Just last week, the government convened to discuss adding several European countries with high morbidity rates onto its no-fly list but decided against it.

Regev-Yochay said the potential to get infected existed no matter what country in the world one traveled to and called on all Israelis to exhibit caution. 

Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash also called the rise in the reproduction rate "worrisome," but did not think it meant that another infection wave was beginning in Israel.

When asked about the possibility of a fourth jab, he said: "We do not see signs of a decline in vaccine efficacy, so there are no preparations. We are creating the option of purchasing more vaccines in case of a decline, and that is our agreement with the vaccine manufacturer. But at the moment, there is no actual preparation" for such a campaign.

Ash called on all those eligible to get vaccinated with the booster shot.

Also on Tuesday, the ministry launched the national vaccination campaign for children ages 5-11.

"This vaccine protects children and there is no excuse to expose them to the disease," Health Ministry Nitzan Horowitz said during a visit to a vaccination site in honor of the launch.

"The doses are safe and received all the necessary approvals both in the United States and here in Israel. We recommend everyone to get vaccinated to protect themselves and also to prevent infecting others. Right now, the majority of those verified are children, and if we vaccinate them, we can stop the current wave," he said.

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Meanwhile, the results of a Pfizer vaccine study showed on Monday that its coronavirus vaccine remained 100% effective four months after the second dose in children ages 12-15.

The pharmaceutical giant said that the research, which involved 2,228 trial participants, will help support its applications for full approval in the United States and worldwide.

No serious safety concerns were observed in individuals with at least six months of follow-up after the second dose. Efficacy was consistently high across gender, race, obesity levels, and comorbidity status.

"As the global health community works to increase the number of vaccinated people around the world, these additional data provide further confidence in our vaccine's safety and effectiveness profile in adolescents," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said.

"This is especially important as we see rates of COVID-19 climbing in this age group in some regions, while vaccine uptake has slowed. We look forward to sharing these data with the FDA and other regulators," he said.

In May of this year, the Food and Drug Administration granted the vaccine "emergency use authorization" for adolescents, and Pfizer has since sought full approval. The vaccine is currently only fully approved in people aged 16 and older.

i24NEWS contributed to this report. 

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The global death toll from COVID-19 topped 5 million on Monday, less than two years into a crisis that has not only devastated poor countries but also humbled wealthy ones with first-rate health care systems.

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Together, the United States, the European Union, Britain and Brazil – all upper-middle- or high-income countries – account for one-eighth of the world's population but nearly half of all reported deaths. The US alone has recorded over 766,000 lives lost, more than any other nation.

"This is a defining moment in our lifetime," said Dr. Albert Ko, an infectious disease specialist at the Yale School of Public Health. "What do we have to do to protect ourselves so we don't get to another 5 million?"

The death toll, as tallied by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal to the populations of Los Angeles and San Francisco combined. It rivals the number of people killed in battles among nations since 1950, according to estimates from the Peace Research Institute Oslo. Globally, COVID-19 is now the third leading cause of death, after heart disease and stroke.

The staggering figure is almost certainly an undercount because of limited testing and people dying at home without medical attention, especially in poor parts of the world, such as India.

Hot spots have shifted over the 22 months since the outbreak began, turning different places on the world map red. Now, the virus is pummeling Russia, Ukraine and other parts of Eastern Europe. In the 24-hour period from Sunday to Monday alone, COVID killed 1,160 Russians, according to official figures. In eastern Europe, misinformation and distrust in government have hobbled vaccination efforts. In Ukraine, only 17% of the adult population is fully vaccinated; in Armenia, only 7%.

"What's uniquely different about this pandemic is it hit hardest the high-resource countries," said Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, director of ICAP, a global health center at Columbia University. "That's the irony of COVID-19."

Wealthier nations with longer life expectancies have larger proportions of older people, cancer survivors and nursing home residents, all of whom are especially vulnerable to COVID-19, El-Sadr noted. Poorer countries tend to have larger shares of children, teens and young adults, who are less likely to fall seriously ill from the coronavirus.

India, despite its terrifying delta surge that peaked in early May, now has a much lower reported daily death rate than wealthier Russia, the US or Britain, though there is uncertainty around its figures.

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The seeming disconnect between wealth and health is a paradox that disease experts will be pondering for years. But the pattern that is seen on the grand scale, when nations are compared, is different when examined at closer range. Within each wealthy country, when deaths and infections are mapped, poorer neighborhoods are hit hardest.

In the US, for example, COVID-19 has taken an outsize toll on Black and Hispanic people, who are more likely than white people to live in poverty and have less access to health care.

"When we get out our microscopes, we see that within countries, the most vulnerable have suffered most," Ko said.

Wealth has also played a role in the global vaccination drive, with rich countries accused of locking up supplies. The US and others are already dispensing booster shots at a time when millions across Africa haven't received a single dose, though the rich countries are also shipping hundreds of millions of shots to the rest of the world.

Africa remains the world's least vaccinated region, with just 5% of the population of 1.3 billion people fully covered.

"This devastating milestone reminds us that we are failing much of the world," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a written statement. "This is a global shame."

Meanwhile, the battle to pin down the source of the virus continues to cast a pall over relations between the US and China. On Friday, the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence published an updated version of a declassified assessment of the source of the COVID virus, saying that it was apparently unlikely that the riddle would ever be solved and that it was as likely to have been developed in a laboratory setting as occurring naturally.

On Sunday, spokesman for China's foreign minister, Wang Wenbin dismissed the assessment as "lies."

"A lie repeated a thousand times is still a lie", adding that US intelligence services "have a reputation for fraud and deception."

"The tracing of the origins of the novel coronavirus is a serious and complex issue that should and can only be researched through the cooperation of global scientists," Wenbin said.

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Four months into one of its worst coronavirus outbreaks, Israel is seeing a sharp decrease in morbidity and severe illness, aided by the third vaccine shot campaign. 

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The Health Ministry reported on Friday that of the 89,942 Israelis it screened for the virus the day before, 1,325 tested positive, meaning that 1.48% of tests processed in this period turned out positive, the lowest since mid-July.

As of Friday morning, there were 20,891 active or symptomatic cases in the country, with 544 patients hospitalized. The hospitalized patients included 198 who were listed in critical condition and 164 on ventilators. The reproduction rate, which relates to the number of people each confirmed carrier infects, stood at 0.75. 

Israel has reported 1,313,755 confirmed cases, including 7,976 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic last year. From the beginning of October, 185 Israelis have lost their lives to the virus, 83% of whom were either completely unvaccinated or had not received a booster shot.  

A total of 5,695,702 Israelis have been vaccinated with two shots, 6,199,526 have received at least one dose, and 3,818,830 have received both doses as well as a booster.

A fourth COVID wave, fuelled by the highly contagious Delta variant, hit the country in June. 

Rather than imposing a national lockdown, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett bet on a national booster shot campaign for Israelis over the age of 12. The government also mandated face masks and reinstated the so-called "green pass" vaccination certificates that only allow fully vaccinated Israelis and those who recovered from the virus to visit restaurants and entertainment venues. 

Since peaking in early September, daily infections in Israel have fallen more than 80%, with severe cases nearly halved.

"Day by day we are overcoming the Delta wave," Bennett said on Tuesday, crediting government policy for "precise, smart and flexible management allowing life alongside the coronavirus."

The government's "life alongside COVID" strategy – which has not come without cost or controversy – has kept schools and the economy open.

On Thursday, the ministry presented the latest safety data from its booster campaign to a panel of advisers at the US Food and Drug Administration considering authorization of additional booster shots.

The data shows that among people over 60 – the first group to have received the third shots – infections began declining rapidly about two weeks after the doses were administered, while morbidity was still climbing among other age groups.

Data analysis by Doron Gazit and Yinon Ashkenazy of the Hebrew University's COVID monitoring team showed the virus' reproduction rate began to drop in each age group following the third shot.

Two months into the Delta wave, vaccinated people over the age of 60 made up more than half of severe COVID cases. The majority were over 70 with health conditions that put them at higher risk.

Since the administration of boosters, mostly unvaccinated, often younger, people are bearing the brunt of serious illness. They currently make up about 75% of hospitalized patients in severe condition, while those vaccinated with two or three shots account for a quarter of such cases.

Ran Balicer, who heads the government's coronavirus expert advisory panel, said a combination of measures curbed the Delta wave.

"These include the mask mandate, the 'green passes', and massive testing. But undoubtedly, the most impactful factor in bringing down the Delta wave was the national vaccination campaign with booster doses," he said.

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Nevertheless, Bennett has been criticized by some scientists for rejecting tougher measures that would have kept Delta infections lower from the start. They included government health officials who feared the "life alongside COVID" policy exacted too heavy a toll.

"Over 1,400 people have died in this wave. So as much as there are benefits to keeping the economy open, it also comes at a price," Director of Public Health Services at the Health Ministry Dr. Sharon Elroi Preiss said. 

By September, hospitals strained to care for COVID patients that could have perhaps been avoided, doctors and health officials said.

"It's a good policy, but it has its price," said Yael Haviv-Yadid, head of the critical care ward at Ramat Gan's Sheba Medical Center, whose unit saw an influx of young, unvaccinated patients. "The teams are very tired and burnt out."

In any case, Balicer cautioned that "Israel was the first country to deal with the combined challenge posed by the Delta variant and mass waning immunity, but it is definitely not the last.

"Other countries will face this complex challenge and will have to figure out their own ways of dealing with it," he added, "and the price could be high."

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Israel's government is poised to announce the reopening of the state's borders to foreign tourists who are fully vaccinated against coronavirus starting Nov. 1.

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Initially, visitors from 40 countries – mostly European Union nations with which Israel has mutually recognized vaccination standards – will be permitted entry, Globes reported.

Only tourists who have received two shots of the vaccine within six months of their visit, or a booster shot, will be allowed into the country.

According to Globes, Israel hopes to sign a mutual vaccination agreement with the US that would allow tourists from some US states to visit.

The Health Ministry is reportedly considering a proposal to allow all vaccinated tourists entry from Nov. 21, subject to the standard visa regulations.

Like Israelis returning from abroad, visitors will be required to provide proof of a negative COVID test conducted within 72 hours of their flight, and an additional PCR test upon arrival.

Meanwhile, the fact that Russia's Sputnik vaccine remains unapproved globally still comprises a problem for Russian tourists seeking to visit Israel, but if the vaccine – as expected – is approved by the World Health Organization in the next few weeks, the problem will be solved.

This article was first published by i24NEWS

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The highly contagious Delta variant has led to dozens of children being hospitalized due to the pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS), the IDF's Military Intelligence Directorate reported Sunday.

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PIMS is a relatively rare condition that causes inflammation of different organs, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, or eyes. It is developed two-six weeks after contracting the coronavirus, with carriers often being asymptomatic and only finding out they were infected with the virus in retrospect.

Symptoms include high fever and extreme inflammation that can rapidly lead to medical emergencies such as insufficient blood flow, and even organ failure. Since the outbreak of the pandemic in Israel, more than 100 children have been hospitalized after developing the syndrome.

On Saturday, 16-year-old Eden Jamal Fiyumi died due to such a complication. Fiyumi had no chronic illnesses but was also unvaccinated. He is believed to be Israel's first PIMS fatality.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that around 1 in 3,200 teenagers or children will develop PIMS after contracting COVID in the US. It called on youngsters to get inoculated against the coronavirus to prevent developing the life-threatening syndrome.

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Israel's coronavirus cabinet will consider removing some restrictions associated with the Green Pass when it convenes on Wednesday due to declining morbidity rates as the country appears to be exiting the fourth wave of the pandemic.

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The number of patients hospitalized in serious condition due to the coronavirus dropped below 500 Tuesday for the first time in nearly two months, standing at 489, the lowest since August 13.

Since midnight Tuesday, 1,678 new COVID cases were confirmed, with active infections standing at 36,037, updated Health Ministry figures showed.

There have been 1,296,125 verified infections since the pandemic began and 7,853 deaths.

According to the Health Ministry, 6,153,823 people in Israel have received at least one vaccine dose and 5,662,909 have gotten two shots. Another 3,606,065 – close to 40% of the population – have been administered a third dose.

Ministers will consider lifting the Green Pass requirement for certain outdoor events and providing more leniency for outdoor dining at restaurants and at indoor pools.

The coronavirus cabinet will also look at restrictions for indoor events.

Health Minister Director-General Nachman Ash on Wednesday said he was optimistic about the continuing reduction in COVID-19 morbidity in the country.

"The decline is clear. If we feared it was just a matter of the [High] Holidays [making the numbers look low due to less testing], then today we can say that the trend is unequivocal. Now, we want to see the impact of reopening schools," Ash told 103 FM radio.

"If we see next week that the trend continues, then yes, we are coming out of this wave," he added.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, meanwhile, said Wednesday that he wants schoolkids in cities with low rates of infection to be exempt from quarantine after coming in contact with confirmed virus cases, and instead to conduct testing in classes.

Bennett said that with the government's "rethinking, and with our navigation of the fourth wave," the move should begin by next week.

"I want to give peace of mind to the parents who will be able to go to work and send their children to school, and end the era of uncertainty," Bennett told a team of experts involved in advising government COVID policy.

On Saturday Ash said the coronavirus cabinet would not be considering imposing any new restrictions in light of encouraging numbers.

New coronavirus rules went into effect on Sunday that invalidates the Green Pass for nearly two million Israelis jabbed with two vaccine doses but who have not yet received the booster shot.

However, the Health Ministry announced on Sunday morning that the old Green Pass will still work "in the coming days" – until Thursday – due to an overload in the issuance of the new vaccine certificates showing all three jabs.

Meanwhile, a large Canadian study released Tuesday suggested that the Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus causes more serious disease and is associated with an increased risk of death compared to previous strains – dangers that are drastically reduced with vaccination.

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The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Toronto and published Tuesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, analyzed more than 212,000 cases of COVID-19 reported in Ontario between Feb. 7 and June 27.

They found that those infected with the Alpha variant, which drove Ontario's third wave in the early spring, or the Beta or Gamma variants were 52% more likely to be hospitalized, 89% more likely to need intensive care and 51% more likely to die of the infection than those who caught the early 2020 version of the virus.

Among Delta cases, they found a 108% increased risk for hospitalization, 235% increased risk for ICU admission and 133% increased risk for death compared to the original virus strain.

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