Israel to speed up Covid-19 vaccination due to new strain
By IANS |
Published on
Fri, Dec 25 2020 11:18 IST |
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Netanyahu receives Covid-19 vaccine. Image Source: IANS News
Tel Aviv, Dec 25 : The Covid-19 vaccination campaign in Israel will speed up to a 24/7 format
after the country registered fresh confirmed cases with a new strain of the novel coronavirus, the Ministry of Health has announced.
In a statement on Thursday night, the Ministry said that Health Minister Yuli Edelstein has decided to dramatically speed up the campaign, which began on Sunday, aiming to reach more than 100,000 vaccines a day, reports Xinhua news agency.
An empty storefront in downtown Jerusalem on November 10, 2020. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
Forced into a weekslong shutdown for the third time since the start of the pandemic, business owners on Thursday protested the nationwide lockdown set to come into force on Sunday to stem virus infections.
The government regulations, which permit the partial opening of some school grades, also drew criticism from parents and local authorities, who called for the swift vaccination of teachers.
“It feels like this lockdown is unnecessary,” Shani Nuri Mamalia, a cosmetician from the central town of Kfar Saba, told the Ynet news site. “It’s confusing and frustrating to all industries. This is a war of attrition against us.”
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Iranian hacker group Pay2Key says it has hacked the computer systems of major Israeli cyber company Portnox, days after the same group hacked Israel Aerospace Industries.
The hackers publish documents related to firms using Portnox’s services, including Amdocs, Bezeq, Elbit, El Al, the Clalit health provider and more, according to the Ynet news website.
The Iranian group says it seized almost 1 terabyte of data and has published just 3 gigabytes of it.
Portnox said in a subsequent statement: “Several hours ago it was published that our internal servers may have been breached by a group known as Pay2Key. We are currently conducting an intensive investigation in order to understand the scope of the event.”
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A man receives a COVID-19 vaccine at a Maccabi Healthcare Services vaccination center in Modiin, on December 24, 2020. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein called Thursday to increase the number of coronavirus vaccines administered per day to 100,000, and to keep the operation going 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including on Shabbat.
A statement from Edelstein’s office said he instructed the ministry’s director-general to work toward that target.
“The coronavirus endangers all of us, the vaccines will save all of us,” Edelstein was quoted saying in the statement.
Regarding the push to carry out vaccinations on Shabbat, Edelstein, who is Orthodox, cited the Jewish legal principle of saving a life, or “pikuah nefesh,” which trumps nearly all other religious requirements.