Israel Records the Highest Number of Cases Since April

In recent news, around 307 new cases of the coronavirus were diagnosed on Wednesday in the State of Israel. The Health Ministry made this announcement, adding that this is the highest recorded figure in the last two months. However, a statement from the Ministry also clarified that June is the month in which the country reported the lowest number of infections of the coronavirus, ever since the pandemic first took over the country. Moreover, only six people lost their lives to the deadly disease in this month. 

Ever since new outbreaks surfaced in Israel in multiple schools, the active cases of the disease have been on the rise. As of now, the country has no less than 2,000 active cases, as compared to the 200 cases that it reported in the first half of June. 

Of the 60,000 tests conducted on Wednesday, 0.6% resulted in a positive diagnosis of the coronavirus. Despite the fact that the rate is low, as compared to its highest of 10%, it is still an increase. In May and the beginning of June, the country proudly boasted a rate of no more than 0.2%. 

The number of cases recorded on a daily basis in the last two weeks has climbed progressively. It has gone from 10 to 20 in a day to over 100 and 200 in just a matter of weeks. Since April, this is the first time that the daily tally has crossed 300 patients in a day. On the other hand, the number of patients in critical conditions has only slightly increased. On the 21st of June, it was recorded at 21 but currently stands at 29. 

Health experts have warned that the next couple of days will be crucial, given the gap between the rise in morbidity and the rise in serious morbidity. 

In other news, the drug regulator of Europe revealed that all the coronavirus vaccines that were approved by the European Union have the ability to protect against any and all variants of the disease. It added that the vaccines are also effective against the Delta variant. However, vaccine manufacturers were instructed to remain alert and actively monitor the effects of the jabs. 

The head of the vaccine strategy at the European Medicines Agency (EMA), Marco Cavaleri, added that a number of variants have popped up over the last couple of months and more are expected soon. He laid emphasis on the monitoring of the effects of these vaccines and talked about keeping an eye on the performance of the approved vaccines against these new mutations. 

The Delta variants of the coronavirus have been found to be highly transmissible and were first discovered in India. It is the reason behind a new wave of infections all over the globe. In order to be familiar with all potential threats, makers of these vaccines have conducted trials, in which they used the blood of vaccinated people and exposed it to viruses. These viruses were engineered to have the basic features of the mutation of concern to figure out if the neutralizing antibodies present in the vaccines are able to quell the virus or not. 

As of now, the European Union has authorized only four vaccines of the coronavirus. One of these is from Pfizer and BioNTech, as well as AstraZeneca.