Data shows close to 320,000 tests carried out, with over 12% positivity rate; more than half a million Israelis receive fourth vaccine jab as of Friday morning

This would make all Israelis over six months be eligible for vaccines; waiting on Pfizer trial, which has already indicated that shots are safe for under-5s

Beds are likely to fill up within two weeks, says ward director; he pleads with parents not to be flippant about variant, saying even if illness is mild, long COVID is a concern

At Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital there is a race to open beds as cases grow, alongside relief that the new variant isn’t leaving patients gasping for air as its predecessors did

Together, the two diseases could put ‘major burden’ on medical system and cost lives, warns Hadassah Hospital doctor, though Ichilov chief thinks Israel can take them in stride

Founding ToI editor David Horovitz weighs in on coronavirus and death of 4-year-old by stray bullet, as US correspondent Jacob Magid discusses interview with new envoy Asaf Zamir

Health Ministry urges vaccinations to counter both COVID and influenza, after first 'flurona' case identified

Tech Israel editor Ricky Ben-David discusses the need for a local food technology plan, and health and science correspondent Nathan Jeffay offers an Omicron overview

More than 7.3 million new coronavirus cases were detected around the world in the last seven days, the highest figure since the pandemic began in late 2019

So-called Swedish model, reportedly being mulled by Israeli health officials, could be far less risky with vaccines and Omicron, but data is still lacking, says top epidemiologist