🇮🇱🦠Some interesting data & info from Israel this morning... some of it positive but some which runs counter to the vaccine success story here so far.
✖️There’s been slow down in uptake of 💉. As younger people become eligible they’re seemingly less interested in it.
[thread]👇
✖️The R number has been steadily increasing despite the lockdown. It’s currently just <1.
✖️This is attributed to the variants. PM @netanyahu said last night that 80% of cases are currently linked to 🇬🇧 strain. (It’s also plainly because lockdown is appallingly adhered to) /2
✖️The lockdown is due to end on Friday morning. But it is expected to be extended in some form.
✖️@netanyahu stated last night that the way out of this is to vaccinate 90% of over 50s within the next two weeks (77% of them have already been done so it’s achievable) /3
✖️The vaccine is working!? The number of +60s in 🏨 has dropped as has severity of illness. ✖️But more young people are now being admitted. This is thought to be because they haven’t yet been vaccinated & they’re more susceptible to the variant.
We spoke to @segal_eran 👇 /4
✖️Yet demographic shift hasn’t reduced pressures.
✖️The largest 🏨 - Sheba Medical Centre says:
“Numbers r NOT going ⬇️.
We‘be gone from 115 Mon to 120 Tues. We’re accepting patients from other 🏨. 83 in serious condition, 6 in very critical condition on ECMO machines” /5
Through this pandemic, 🇮🇱 seems to have been slightly ahead of the global curve and has therefore tended to provide a prescient view ahead for other countries.
The experiences of Israel are worth watching. /6
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A mass vaccination programme for #Palestinian health workers + the over 60s & vulnerable people in the #WestBank has begun.
Palestinian medical staff on the frontline have spent the day vaccinating each other with the newly acquired doses. [thread]
A consignment of 2000 Moderna jabs were supplied by Israel on Monday & began to be administered to medical workers today.
It will take several months, with regular supplies, to vaccinate the population.
In addition to the 🇮🇱 delivery, 5,000 doses of 🇷🇺 Sputnik vaccine are due to arrive in the West Bank soon. An additional 37,000 doses will be supplied via the @WHO Covax scheme.
Officials say doses from West Bank will be transferred to Palestinians in the #Gaza in coming days.
🇮🇱 At the start of the #coronavirus pandemic, #Israel was seen as a beacon of how to contain it with a stick lockdown. It worked.
But did it just delay the inevitable?
According to @JohnsHopkins research, 🇮🇱 now has the *highest infection rate per capita in the world*. [thread]
The gov appointed corona commissioner said recently: “The state of sickness in 🇮🇱 is among worst & most complicated in the world.”
The combination of different cultures + particular desire within some Jewish & Muslim societies for mass gatherings has contributed to situation.
About half of the cases in Israel (I am not including the West Bank & Gaza in this analysis - they require a separate one) are among the Arab community and the Haredi Jews (ultra-orthodox).
🍴🥗🥪🍷🍺Bars & restaurants in many countries remain closed because of #Coronavirus.
There are plans across Europe, Middle East, Australasia to open soon.
Israel is among a few who have pressed ahead. Restaurants/bars allowed to open from yesterday so how’s it working? [thread]
There are strict rules for 🇮🇱restaurants.
❌Establishments with capacity or <100 can operate at 100%. >100 must operate at 85%.
❌1.5m distance between tables
❌🪑🧂must be fully disinfected between customers
❌Tables only set after customers seated
❌ Menus must be disposable
More 🇮🇱 restaurant / bar rules as it opens up
❌Antibacterial gel must be available
❌All 🥪🥗 on display must be covered
❌🤒 customer temperatures must be taken
❌ A staff member in every restaurant must be assigned as being responsible for monitoring regulations are followed
🇮🇱 History will be made in Israel today as Prime Minister @netanyahu walks into Jerusalem’s District Court to become the country’s first sitting leader to go on trial.
3 years of investigations, 3 separate cases & 3 elections. A witch-hunt says the PM; an attempted coup.
The charges against @netanyahu:
❌Case 1000 - The Gifts Affair: Fraud & breach of trust
❌Case 2000 - The Media Affair: Fraud & breach of trust
❌Case 4000 - The Bezeq Affair: Bribary, fraud & breach of trust
❌ Case 1000: It’s alleged @netanyahu received goods totalling £162,000 from 2 businessmen (🍾+cigars) over a continuous period (‘a supply channel’) & that he ‘acted for the benefit’ of businessmen. He insists gifts were ‘tokens of friendship’ + that he didn’t act inappropriately
For weeks, there’ve been warnings about what might happen when #Coronavirus reaches #Yemen.
It is now officially spreading inside the country. @SkyNews has filmed images of graves being dug at a worrying pace & we’ve spoken to @jnbeuze - the head of the @UNHCRYemen [thread]
.@jnbeuze told @SkyNews that the presence of #COVID19 in #Yemen + the impact the virus is having on the economies of wealthy donor countries presents a devastating DUAL BLOW for the country.
He warns that 3.6m displaced people + 280,000 refugees will lose their aid.
More than 24 million Yemenis - 80% of the population - are in need of humanitarian assistance after 6 years of civil war between Saudi-backed government forces & #Houthi rebels aligned to Iran. Half of health facilities are dysfunctional; nearly a 1/4 districts have no doctors.