the Ina Lotte, a ship hoisting a Liberian flag traveling on the Paraná River near Rosario, Argentina, was isolated after a crew member showed symptoms compatible with monkeypox (mpox).

The ship was quarantined at the San Lorenzo port. Argentine health authorities activated the protocol while awaiting test results for the symptomatic crew member.

According to reports, the affected crew member's test results later confirmed signs of monkeypox.

Argentina confirmed eight cases of mpox so far. The infected crew member is reportedly in the early stages of the virus, and not exhibiting visible symptoms yet.

Monkeypox is an infectious disease transmitted through close contact, causing painful rash and fever, primarily found in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The isolation of the ship due to monkeypox differs from COVID-19 protocols, as monkeypox spreads through direct contact, not respiratory droplets like COVID-19.

The World Health Organization has declared mpox a global public health emergency, as a new variant is spreading rapidly in Africa.

The WHO urged pharmaceutical companies to ramp up vaccine production to halt the spread of the new strain. Two recommended vaccines are MVA-BN from Bavarian Nordic and LC16 from Japan. More doses could be available by 2025 with sufficient commitment and demand.

Sources: Cronica, Infobae, Montevideo, Safety4Sea, El Dia, The Globe and Mail, Daily Mail, Devdiscourse, Gazette, Perfil.

This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the current outbreak of a more severe and deadly strain of mpox (monkeypox), as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

It seems to spread more easily than previous strains, with a mortality rate of about 10% compared to less than 1% for the virus responsible for the 2022 global outbreak.

As of June 2024, there were over 14,000 Mpox cases and 524 deaths in the DRC, with women and children under 15 being the most affected. The number of cases this year has exceeded the total from last year.

From January 2022 to June 2024, there were 99,176 confirmed Mpox cases in 116 countries, resulting in 208 deaths. The WHO noted the presence of different virus strains in various countries, posing challenges for healthcare workers.

The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had already declared the Mpox situation in the region a public health emergency of continental security.

In 2022, the United Nations health agency had declared a global health emergency for an Mpox outbreak that had spread to many countries, primarily affecting gay and bisexual men worldwide with a less deadly variant, clade IIb.

The WHO urged vaccine manufacturers to submit applications for emergency use of a Mpox vaccine.

Mpox is a viral disease that can be transmitted to humans through contact with infected animals or materials. Symptoms include skin rashes, swollen lymph nodes, fever, body aches, headache, and weakness. Skin lesions filled with fluid may appear on various body parts and can vary in number before drying up and falling off.

Sources: Washington Post, BBC, WSJ, Forbes, Die Welt, Der Spiegel, The Epoch Times, DGABC, El Mañana, O Tempo, Xataka, La Voz de Michoacán, Razon, Correio24horas, FA Notícias, El Economista, Istoé, Agência Brasil, Proceso, Times of India.

This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) is evaluating whether to declare the current mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) due to a significant increase in cases and deaths compared to the previous year.

The outbreak saw over 27,000 cases and about 1,100 deaths, mostly affecting children under 15 in the DRC and neighboring countrie.

It is caused by a new clade (1b) of the mpox virus, resulting in more severe illness and higher fatality rates compared to the earlier variant that spread globally in 2022.

Two suspected cases of mpox were reported in Mombasa and Kilifi, Kenya, with one case traced through contacts of an index patient, a truck driver who had travelled from Uganda.

The Kenyan Ministry of Health dispatched medical experts, enhanced surveillance, and advised preventive measures, while the Deputy Director-General denied reports of new confirmed cases, stating that contact tracing and sample testing are ongoing.

Mpox is transmitted to humans through infected persons, animals, or primates, and spreads through close and skin-to-skin contact, as well as infected respiratory droplets from sneezing and coughing.

This mpox outbreak is notably larger than previous ones, with spread to unaffected provinces and matching the total cases reported in the prior year, involving over 14,000 reported cases and 511 deaths in the DRC.

In May 2022, mpox infections rose globally, mainly impacting gay and bisexual men due to the Clade IIb subclade. Since September 2023, a different strain, the Clade Ib subclade, has been surging in the DRC, with the outbreak spreading to previously unaffected provinces and neighboring countries like Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.

The CDC and WHO have issued alerts, convened expert groups, and are urging clinicians to be vigilant for mpox in individuals who have traveled to affected areas.

The WHO is working to improve access to mpox vaccines and has released funding to ramp up response in affected countries, while the CDC has issued a health alert and recommends vigilance for mpox cases, especially in patients with recent travel to affected regions.

The WHO Director-General emphasized the need for a comprehensive response involving communities, released funds to support the effort, and has called for more funding, international assistance, vaccination, and public awareness campaigns to combat the virus.

A previous mpox outbreak led to cases in various countries, resulting in over 87,000 confirmed cases and 1,100 deaths worldwide. The current mpox outbreak involves a different virus variant with a historically higher fatality rate, impacting countries in central and eastern Africa.

The outbreak involves cases with varying fatality rates based on age, with young children being more susceptible to severe outcomes.

Sources: Newsweek, Ars Technica, Live Science, Al Jazeera, Nation, The Straits Times, Times of India, Goa Chronicle, The Health Site, Times Now News, BNO News, STAT

This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.

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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%.

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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.

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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%.

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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.

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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 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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The worst of the coronavirus pandemic – deaths, hospitalizations and lockdowns – could be over this year if huge inequities in vaccinations and medicines are addressed quickly, the head of emergencies at the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

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Dr. Michael Ryan, speaking during a panel discussion on vaccine inequity hosted by the World Economic Forum, said "we may never end the virus" because such pandemic viruses "end up becoming part of the ecosystem."

But "we have a chance to end the public health emergency this year if we do the things that we've been talking about," he said.

WHO has slammed the imbalance in COVID-19 vaccinations between rich and poor countries as a catastrophic moral failure. Fewer than 10% of people in lower-income countries have received even one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Ryan told the virtual gathering of world and business leaders that if vaccines and other tools aren't shared fairly, the tragedy of the virus, which has so far killed more than 5.5 million people worldwide, would continue.

"What we need to do is get to low levels of disease incidence with maximum vaccination of our populations, so nobody has to die," Ryan said. "The issue is: It's the death. It's the hospitalizations. It's the disruption of our social, economic, political systems that's caused the tragedy – not the virus."

Ryan also waded into the growing debate about whether COVID-19 should be considered endemic, a label some countries like Spain have called for to better help live with the virus, or still a pandemic – involving intensified measures that many countries have taken to fight the spread.

"Endemic malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people; endemic HIV; endemic violence in our inner cities. Endemic in itself does not mean good. Endemic just means it's here forever," he said.

Public health officials have warned it is highly unlikely COVID-19 will be eliminated and say it will continue to kill people, though at much lower levels, even after it becomes endemic.

Fellow panelist Gabriela Bucher, executive director of the anti-poverty organization Oxfam International, cited the "enormous urgency" of fairer distribution of vaccines and the need for large-scale production. She said resources to fight the pandemic were being "hoarded by a few companies and a few shareholders."

John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, decried the "total collapse of global cooperation and solidarity" over the last two years, saying it was "totally unacceptable" how few people in Africa have gotten vaccine shots. His agency says only 10% of Africa's 1.2 billion people are fully vaccinated.

He also sought to douse the belief among some that vaccine hesitancy is widespread in Africa, citing studies that say 80% of Africans were ready to get shots if the vaccines were available.

The comments came on the second day of the online alternative to the annual World Economic Forum gathering, which was postponed over pandemic health concerns.

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Israel's coronavirus infection rate stands at 0.63%, according to Health Ministry data. Of the 85,832 people who tested for COVID-19 Sunday, 498 were found to have the disease.

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There are 6,155 active cases of the virus, 164 of which are serious. Of those in serious condition, 106 are on ventilators.

Although 1,319,888 Israelis have recovered from the virus since the outbreak of the pandemic, 8,123 have died.

On the vaccination front, 5,744,458 Israelis have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, while 5,744,458 have received two doses. Nearly 4 million Israelis 3,991,207 Israelis have received all three available doses of the vaccine.

The number of coronavirus cases around the world is approaching 250 million, according to a Sunday report by Reuters.

Although the number of new daily COVID-19 infections is gradually declining worldwide amid vaccine rollouts, data shows case numbers are skyrocketing in Russia, Ukraine, and Greece.

Experts are currently optimistic about the course of the virus and believe that with the new treatments developed since the start of the pandemic, mortality rates could begin to decline.

"We think between now and the end of 2022, this is the point where we get control over this virus ... where we can significantly reduce severe disease and death," Maria Van Kerkhove, World Health Organization COVID technical lead, explained.

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However, analysts warned that the upcoming holiday season that will see people come together for intimate gatherings could lead to a spike in cases.

Health officials are also concerned about the availability of coronavirus vaccines, as many developing nations have been left without doses.

"Vaccine inequity remains the biggest barrier to reaching our coverage targets," Pan American Health Organization Assistant Director Jarbas Barbosa said.

Last month, the WHO appealed to leaders attending the G20 summit in Rome to assist in financing a $23.4 billion initiative to stem the spread of the virus in developing nations.

Around 14% of adults who recovered from the coronavirus reported experiencing long COVID symptoms, in particular difficulty concentrating, muscle pain, weakness, and loss of their sense of taste and smell, according to the findings of a study carried out by the Leumit healthcare provider.

According to the study, 10% of those who recovered from the coronavirus reported difficulty concentrating or memory problems, 8.5% reported muscle pain, 7.6% reported muscle weakness, 6% reported losing their sense of taste or smell, and 3.8% reported experiencing headaches.

A majority of the symptoms subsided six months after recovery, although certain symptoms continued to plague sufferers, including issues with memory and concentration, 9%, muscle pain, 7.8%, and muscle weakness, 6.6%, all of which remained at levels comparable to those who recently recovered from the virus.

Those who experienced muscle pain and ran fevers while sick with the virus were more likely to continue to suffer from long COVID more than six months after recovery. Age and hospitalization, however, were not indicators of long COVID, the study found.

The findings, garnered from studying 714 individuals aged 18 and over who recovered from the virus at least 12 weeks before taking part in the research, will be presented at a Leumit conference on research and innovation next week.

According to the study's research director Dr. Ilan Green, "The loss of sense of taste and smell during acute illness is an indication of the penetration of the virus into the nervous system and increases the risk of long-term damage to memory and concentration."

Green said: "Long COVID is a multisystem syndrome attributed to the period beginning 12 weeks after the acute illness. The information in the literature is preliminary only, and from it, we find around 10% of those who recovered will suffer from at least one symptom in this period. The rate of the symptoms' appearance varies, and there is a lack of information on symptoms that continue beyond half a year and on the populations that are at increased risk for long-term consequences."

i24NEWS contributed to this report.

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The Delta wave continues to subside, according to Health Ministry data. Of the 60,230 Israelis that were tested for the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, 3,247 (5.44%) tested positive. The reproduction rate, which dropped below 1 on Wednesday (0.95), declined further by Thursday and now stands at 0.83. A reproduction rate of less than 1 means an outbreak is subsiding.

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There are currently 84,505 active cases in the country, with 1,114 Israelis hospitalized. Of those, 227 are in critical condition, and 160 are on ventilators.

Data shows that 144,454 students are currently in self-isolation, as are 3,757 members of the teaching staff, of whom 2,279 carry the virus. Pupils from as many as 100 cities ─ including Eilat, Ashdod, Safed, Lod, Tiberias, Bat Yam, Ramla and Bnei Brak ─ will continue their studies via Zoom as these have been designated by the government as "red" cities due to high morbidity rates.

The ministry also reported long lines at drive-through coronavirus testing sites throughout Rosh Hashanah. Many complained they had to wait for three hours in line and ran out of gas and water.

Since the launch of the booster campaign, 2,690,387 Israelis have received their first jabs. Altogether, 6,024,339 have been fully vaccinated, and 5,519,095 received their first doses.

Nevertheless, despite showing signs of abating, the Delta wave continued to wreak havoc over the festivities. It claimed the lives of 50 Israelis over the two-day holiday. Fourteen patients died on the first day, Monday, and another 26 on Tuesday. Fifty-six Israelis have died of COVID since the beginning of the week.

Among the deceased over Rosh Hashanah was a 30-year-old unvaccinated woman who had given birth to a baby a week prior. After the birth, she was hospitalized at the coronavirus ward of the Emek Medical Center in Afula. Her condition deteriorated on Tuesday, after which she was transferred to the coronavirus intensive care unit Carmel Medical Center in Haifa, where she was on a ventilator. Her condition continued to deteriorate, and despite efforts on behalf of doctors to save her, she succumbed to the virus.

Another 28-year-old unvaccinated woman, who had given birth to a baby via C-Section in recent days, is hospitalized at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera. According to the hospital, she was put on a ventilator and her condition is serious, but stable. The baby is in good condition, currently hospitalized at the medical center as well.

According to data, 25 pregnant woman are hospitalized due to COVID in hospitals across the country. Another 26 hospitalized patients are mothers who had recently given birth. Of the latter, 65% had not been vaccinated.

Israel has reported 1,142,371 cases, including 7,279 deaths, since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization doubled down Tuesday on an earlier appeal for a moratorium on boosters that has largely been ignored as rich countries with large supplies of vaccines continue to offer citizens booster shots and poorer countries struggle to lay hands even on first doses.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said he was "appalled" after hearing comments from a top association of pharmaceutical manufacturers that vaccine supplies are high enough to allow for both booster shots for people in well-supplied countries and first jabs in poorer countries that face shortages. He said that's already been the case.

"I will not stay silent when companies and countries that control the global supply of vaccines think the world's poor should be satisfied with leftovers," he told a news conference. "Because manufacturers have prioritized or been legally obliged to fulfill bilateral deals with rich countries willing to pay top dollar, low-income countries have been deprived of the tools to protect their people."

Tedros had previously called for a moratorium on boosters through the end of September. But wealthy countries – including Britain, Denmark, France, Greece, Germany, and Spain – have begun or are considering plans to offer third shots of two-dose vaccines to their vulnerable people such as the elderly or those with compromised immune systems.

Israel has been providing third doses to a wide swath of people who already received a full two-dose regimen months earlier, and has even started mulling about providing a fourth jab. And last month, United States health officials recommended that all Americans get boosters to shore up their protection amid evidence that the vaccines' effectiveness is falling. WHO officials insist the scientific justification for boosters remains unclear.

Tedros acknowledged that third doses might be necessary for at-risk groups, but said: "We do not want to see widespread use of boosters for healthy people who are fully vaccinated."

Responding to the WHO calls on booster shots, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the US has donated and shared about 140 million doses with over 90 countries, "more than all other countries combined."

She added: "From Senegal to South Africa to India, we've made significant investments in boosting global productions of COVID vaccines. At the same time, the President and this administration has a responsibility to do everything we can to protect people in the United States."

US health officials are continuing to assess the science and utility of boosters, and there are growing indications that the US may miss the Biden administration's Sept. 20 target date for a wide rollout of extra shots for vaccinated people.

The WHO chief said he received a message of "clear support" from health ministers at a meeting of the influential Group of 20 countries this week for a commitment to help hit a WHO target that all countries vaccinate at least 40% of their people by year's end.

"A month ago, I called for a global moratorium on booster doses, at least until the end of September to prioritize vaccinating the most at risk people around the world who are yet to receive their first dose," Tedros said. "There has been little change in the global situation since then."

"So today, I'm calling for an extension of the moratorium until at least the end of the year to enable every country to vaccinate at least 40% of its population," he said.

The WHO says 5.5 billion coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered so far, but 80% of those have been to upper- and middle-income countries. Rich countries have also offered to donate 1 billion doses to other countries, but fewer than 15% of those doses have "materialized," Tedros said.

He noted that manufacturers have pledged to prioritize the UN-backed COVAX program, which aims to get vaccines to the neediest people in the world – no matter how wealthy the country.

"We don't want any more promises. We just want the vaccines," the WHO chief said.

Earlier Wednesday, COVAX managers again scaled back their target to ship doses this year, projecting about 1.4 billion doses will be available through the program by year-end – down from about 1.8 billion previously. They had originally hoped to ship 2 billion doses this year.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which co-runs the program, said COVAX has faced setbacks including export restrictions from hard-hit India – a key producer of vaccines – as well as regulatory hurdles for some vaccine candidates and manufacturing troubles elsewhere. But it also said deliveries are ramping up strongly, and another 1.1 billion doses are expected to be available by year-end through the program, up from 330 million so far. Most of those doses have gone to or are destined for poorer countries.

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The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations said Tuesday that about 1.5 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses are now being produced every month, and cited projections that a total of 12 billion will have been produced by year-end.

Dr. Bruce Aylward, a top adviser to Tedros, acknowledged that "some countries may be going ahead with decisions" to widely administer boosters, but that the WHO call for a moratorium "makes a real difference." He said some countries – which he did not identify – have approached the WHO about whether booster policies could be delayed.

But admittedly, the WHO's first call for a moratorium through September has not fixed the gaping imbalance in access to vaccines.

"Our role is to make sure that we put forward the strongest possible arguments and way out of this pandemic – and the way out of that is a moratorium and to extend it," Aylward said. "Because since the last time we called for it, the equity gap has gotten greater, the amount of vaccine available to low-income countries has gone down."

In the meantime, The European Medicines Agency has added Guillain-Barre syndrome – an extremely rare nerve-damaging disorder – onto its list of possible side-effects of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.

The medicines regulator said a causal relationship between GBS and the AstraZeneca shot, known as Vaxzevria, was a "at least a reasonable possibility" after 833 cases of GBS were reported out of 592 million doses of the vaccine given worldwide by July 31.

The EMA categorized the side-effect as "very rare", the lowest frequency of side-effect category it has, and has emphasized that the benefits of the shot outweigh the risks. The US Food and Drug Administration has added a warning over Guillain-Barre syndrome as a possible side-effect of Johnson & Johnson's shot. Both vaccines use viral vector technology, and have also been associated with rare blood clots.

The EMA also tagged some other less severe side-effects to vaccines from Johnson & Johnson, Moderna as well as AstraZeneca's shot.

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