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Israel Update 21.10.21

ENTRY TO ISRAEL – UPDATE

 

 

P.M Bennett and the Health and Tourism ministries approved a plan on Thursday to allow vaccinated and recovered tourists  into the country beginning Nov. 1. The plan, which still must be ratified by the full government, allows tourists who have been vaccinated with the Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Sinovac or Sinopharm vaccines within the last six months to enter the country. Anyone who has received a booster shot of these vaccines within the last six months will also be able to enter Israel. However those who have been in a “red” country during the 14 days prior to travelling to Israel are prohibited from entry. Read more here

 

 

 

CORONAVIRUS IN ISRAEL

 

 

(Figures from last week’s Update in brackets for comparison)

While morbidity in Israel has been constantly dropping for weeks, as of today, Thursday, almost 9,000 out of 15,000 active cases in the country were schoolchildren. Some 1,021 (1,732) new virus carriers were identified on Wednesday, over 50 of whom were 11 or younger – the cohort not eligible yet for a vaccine. While a few weeks earlier the new cases often surpassed 5,000 a day, in the past ten days they have remained below 2,000 and are steadily decreasing. The number of serious patients also continued to drop – standing at 330 (403) on Thursday. Read more here

 

 

 

RESEARCH

 

The Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is highly effective at preventing infection and symptomatic disease from the Delta variant among 12- to 18-year-olds, research conducted in Israel shows. The study found the estimated vaccine effectiveness against documented COVID-19 infection in adolescents was 90%, and 93% against symptomatic COVID-19, on days seven to 21 after the second dose. Read more here

 

 

 

A COVID CAUTIONARY TALE WITH A HAPPY ENDING

 

 

 

Miri Ali said that she received two gifts from Galilee Medical Centre (GMC): her baby and her life.

The 33-year-old new mother from the Arab town of Jadeidi-Makr was admitted to GMC in August with a critical case of COVID-19, suffering from respiratory failure and severe pneumonia. She was 35 weeks pregnant and unvaccinated.  The hospital delivered her baby by emergency caesarean section. Her son was born in good condition and was soon released home, while his mother was intubated and remained in critical condition.

For 15 days, GMC’s coronavirus intensive care unit fought for Ali’s life and eventually she began breathing on her own. Then, she was transferred to the medical centre’s rehabilitation unit, where she has been recovering for the last 6 weeks and has now been discharged. Her recovery required a multi-disciplinary team including a physiotherapist, occupational therapist, communication clinician and psychologist. Read more here

 

 

MINORITIES IN ISRAEL

 

 

New data issued by Israel’s Health Ministry in a 2020 report on health care personnel show that  Arabs and Druze in Israel, who make up about 20% of the country’s population, constitute almost half (46%) of recipients of medical licenses; half of the new nurses, (50%, as compared with just 9% in 2000); and more than half the dentists (53%) and pharmacists (57%).

This meteoric surge within just two decades has transformed the face of medicine in Israel. Besides the leap of more than fivefold in the number of Arab nurses since the start of the century, there has been a fourfold increase in the number of Arab physicians, the number of Arab dentists has more than doubled and the overall proportion of Arab pharmacists has almost tripled, from 21% in 2000 to 57% in 2020. Read more here

 

 

THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

 

 

Prime Minister Bennett on Tuesday received an official invitation from Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan to visit the UAE in what will be the first state visit of an Israeli premier.Read more here

 

 

Israel and the UAE have finalized an agreement  to collaborate on a number of space projects, including a joint launch of the “Beresheet 2” space mission to the moon.  The United Arab Emirates Space Agency also signed a deal with the Israel Space Agency to enhance cooperation in scientific research, space exploration, and knowledge transfer. Read more here

 

 

DEFENCE

 

 

Israeli Air Force and German Luftwaffe aircraft performed a flyby over the Knesset in Jerusalem on Sunday as a display of the close cooperation between the two countries and their militaries, the first time that German aircraft have flown over Jerusalem since World War I. The flyby was part of an inaugural event for a multinational aerial exercise, dubbed Blue Flag, which is being hosted by the IAF. Six other countries are participating in the drill: the US, the UK, Italy, France, Greece and India. Read more here

 

 

GAZA

 

 

COGAT, the Israeli defence body in charge of Palestinian civilian affairs, said an additional 3,000 Gazans will be allowed into Israel to work, bringing the total of recently announced new permits to 10,000.  The decision was “conditional upon the continued preservation of the region’s security stability for the long term.” Read more here

 

 

SWEDEN

 

 

Sweden’s foreign minister visited Israel last week, the first such visit by Stockholm’s top diplomat in over a decade as part of Sweden’s effort to mend ties with the new Israeli government. Read more here

 

 

 

A Swedish radio station quoted Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde on Tuesday as saying: “The corruption that pervades Palestine is an obstacle to providing economic support.”There have been numerous accusations that PA President Mahmoud Abbas rewards officials who are close to him… A high-ranking PA official and one of Abbas’ closest confidants reportedly benefits financially by taking a cash cut from every work permit issued for Palestinians to work in Israel. Read more here

 

 

INDIA

 

 

Indian Foreign Minister lauded the business relationship between his country and Israel on Sunday, saying at a meeting with CEOs and government officials that India regards Israel “in many ways as perhaps our most trusted and innovative partner.” Read more here

 

 

 

FUTURISTIC TRANSPORT

 

 

City Transformer is an Israeli automotive company which has developed an electric car that can shrink in size to squeeze into parking spots. The company has announced a new partnership with the emergency medical response organization United Hatzalah to incorporate the startup’s “foldable” urban vehicles into the organization’s fleet. The CT-1 electric car is  a 2.49-metre long (8.2 feet) and 1.4-metre wide vehicle with a patent-registered folding mechanism that can contract the wheelbase down to just one metre (39 inches) wide for easy parking or manoeuvering through traffic.  Read more here

 

 

 

An Israeli startup. AIR has developed the aircraft AIR ONE, an all-electric two-seater eVTOL that offers a range of 110 miles (177 km) on a single charge at speeds of up to 155 miles (250 km) per hour, with a flight time of one hour. The aircraft has collapsible wings for easy parking and the ability to take off from or land on any flat surface. AIR said the aircraft “puts the freedom to fly directly in the hands of consumers” for “adventure, fun, and day-to-day flying.”Read more here

 

 

MOON TECH

 

 

Helios, the Israeli startup developing tech to produce oxygen and metals from lunar soil, has signed an agreement with European multinational tech corporation OHB SE to provide their space tech for a future lunar landing system called LSAS (Lunar Surface Access Service.) As part of the agreement, Helios has announced that its technology will be aboard the first three LSAS missions to the moon by 2025. Read more here

 

 

MEDICAL

 

 

The US FDA has approved a groundbreaking, complex, generic drug (made by a Jerusalem company) which is indicated for the treatment of ovarian cancer multiple myeloma and Kaposi’s Sarcoma. Ayana’s Doxorubicin-HCI Liposomal Injection is a modified chemotherapy treatment that targets cancer cells directly, thereby reducing side effects. Read more here

 

 

 

MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

 

 

Healables a Jersualem start-up has developed a  flexible, machine-washhable wearable sleeve device which delivers microcurrent electrotherapy to legs or arms, through a port snapped onto an e-textile sleeve with built-in electrodes, for the treatment of pain and inflammation. Read more here

 

 

Israeli AI-powered cancer diagnostics company Ibex Medical Analytics  announced this week a partnership with Roche, a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under pharmaceuticals and diagnostics with the aim of improving cancer care. Read more here

 

 

More about Ibex here: Read more here