Israel’s Health Ministry reported on Tuesday that the first case of the AY.4.2 Delta variant, known as “Delta Plus,” has been identified in Israel in an 11-year-old boy who had returned from Moldova. Delta Plus was first identified in July 2021 and has been identified in several countries in Europe, with the largest number of cases in the UK. Health officials have been studying the variant and some have said there has been no indication that is more virulent or transmissible than other variants. The spokesperson for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that the government was keeping a close eye on the variant but as of now, there is no evidence that is more transmissible. However, other health officials say that it may be more infectious.

Israel’s fourth coronavirus wave has been showing signs of receding, with a steady decrease in the number of new daily cases in recent days. The number of seriously ill patients has also been steadily declining. But as the COVID pandemic has taught society, anything can change at any time and Israel can’t yet rest on its laurels. Senior health officials say that Israel must be on guard to prevent a resurgence of COVID caused by the entry of new variants into the country such as the AY.4.2 variant recently discovered in Europe. “We need to learn what the clinical significance of each variant is,” Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Nachman Ash told 103 FM Radio. “Right now I don’t have much to say, we still need to become familiar with it and evaluate if it’s dangerous for us or not.

A 49-year-old Israeli man who decided not to vaccinate due to anti-vax “fake news” spread on social media expressed his regrets for his anti-vax stance after he contracted COVID and almost died. Meir Dayan, who has been hospitalized in the ICU at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv for the past three weeks, wrote about his experience in a post he published on the hospital’s Facebook page. “I decided not to get vaccinated due to fears of side effects that were spread on social media,” Dayan wrote. “As an ordinary citizen, I was also confused by the many opinions and information published by various interested parties…and then I contracted COVID.” “On the tenth day, my condition worsened and I was evacuated to Ichilov Hospital.

An Israeli girl is seriously ill due to post-COVID syndrome about a month after her mother intentionally exposed her to COVID. Naama Bar-Ziv, 7, was hospitalized in serious condition in Assuta Hospital in Ashdod after developing pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS) after recovering from COVID. Naama’s mother, Sarita Bar-Ziv, told Channel 12 News: “I blame myself a little and also the information we were told that children aren’t harmed from COVID. I told myself that if one of us gets COVID, I’ll expose all of us so the children can get a Green Pass.” “My older son got COVID and I quarantined him but by then my other son had caught it. I told myself that this was the opportunity for all of us to get it.

In a fascinating and first-of-its-kind study carried out at the Emek Medical Center in the northern Israeli city of Afula, it was found that religious-spiritual support plays a crucial role in fighting COVID. The study was published recently in a scientific journal about mental health treatment and piqued the interest of doctors and therapists worldwide. “The patients during the first COVID wave were mostly Shomrei Torah and mitzvos who caught the virus at Purim events,” said Dr. Einat Madar, director of the Integrated Internal Medicine and Mental Health Services at HaEmek Medical Center. “We saw that as Pesach got closer and closer, the [religous] patients became more and more worried that they wouldn’t be able to fulfill Leil HaSeder and the other mitzvos of the Chag.

A teenager died on Shabbos of pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS) in Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petach Tikvah, in what is believed to be the first fatality from PIMS in Israel. He was later identified as Aden Jamal Fayumi of Jaljulia, who was a healthy teen without any preexisting illnesses but was unvaccinated. He was transferred from Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba two weeks ago and was attached to an ECMO machine in the cardiac ICU. “There are quite a few children in the country with PIMS and quite a few are ventilated,” Dr. Ofer Schiller, a senior physician at Schneider, told Ynet. “This is a serious illness.

A 6-month-old baby was hospitalized in the Safra Children’s Hospital in the Sheba Medical Center in critical condition on Wednesday after developing pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS) after recovering from COVID. The baby was transferred from Yoseftal Medical Center in Eilat after her condition deteriorated and was attached to an ECMO machine after arriving at Sheba. “The case in question is a painful reminder of the harm that COVID can cause,” said Dr. Itai Pesach, director of Safra Children’s Hospital. “It’s very important that we vaccinate to protect ourselves and those who can’t get vaccinated.” Israel is currently experiencing a peak in the number of COVID patients attached to ECMO machines, 90% of whom are not vaccinated.

A 55-year-old Israeli woman who is critically ill due to the coronavirus has been waiting for three days to be attached to the life-saving ECMO machine but there are none to be found in Israel, Channel 13 News reported. The woman, who has no preexisting illness but was unvaccinated, is in desperate need of the machine and her life is hanging in the balance. The staff at Assuta Hospital in Ashdod where she is hospitalized left no stone unturned in attempts to locate a machine for her but there is not one machine available in the entire country. The Health Ministry was also involved in the search but to no avail.

New Zealand’s government acknowledged Monday what most other countries did long ago: It can no longer completely get rid of the coronavirus. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a cautious plan to ease lockdown restrictions in Auckland, despite an outbreak there that continues to simmer. Since early in the pandemic, New Zealand had pursued an unusual zero-tolerance approach to the virus through strict lockdowns and aggressive contact tracing. Until recently, that elimination strategy had worked remarkably well for the country of 5 million, which has reported just 27 virus deaths. While other nations faced rising death tolls and disrupted lives, New Zealanders went back to workplaces, school yards and sports stadiums safe from any community spread.

Israel restricted its COVID Green Pass on Sunday to allow only those who have received a vaccine booster dose or recently recuperated from coronavirus to enter indoor venues. The new criteria mean that nearly 2 million people will lose their vaccination passport in the coming days. Israel is the first country to make a booster shot a requirement for its digital vaccination passport. The move is widely seen as a step to encourage booster vaccination among those who have yet to receive a third dose. Under the new guidelines, people must have received a booster shot to be eligible for a green pass. Those who have received two vaccine doses, and those who have recovered from coronavirus, will be issued passes valid for six months after the date of their vaccination or recovery.