Israel's coronavirus infection rate stands at 0.63%, according to Health Ministry data. Of the 37,936 people tested for the virus Saturday, 224 were found to have contracted COVID-19.
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There are 8,526 active cases of the virus in the country. There are 223 in serious condition, 133 of whom are on ventilators.
Although 1,310,531 Israelis have recovered from COVID-19 since the outbreak of the pandemic, 8,085 have died.
On the vaccination front, 6,230,706 Israelis have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, while 5,726,544 have received two jabs. Nearly 4 million Israelis – 3,943,118 – have received all three available doses of the vaccine.
According to a new report from the military task force on the coronavirus released Sunday, 2,500 children have been hospitalized after contracting COVID-19. According to Health Ministry data, one out of every 900 children who contracts the virus will be hospitalized in moderate, serious, or critical condition as a result of the disease or complications from it.
As for the prevalence of PIMS, a multisystem inflammatory condition that can appear in children who contract the virus, around 150 cases have been reported in Israel, meaning one in every 3,500 children who contract the disease. A majority of children who require hospitalization for the condition require treatment in an intensive care unit. Between 1% to 2% of those cases resulted in death.
The report's authors wrote that "an analysis of morbidity in Israel and around the world finds that contrary to popular opinion, the coronavirus disease can certainly be dangerous for children. Although children do generally experience mild forms of the disease," there is a significant percentage of children who contract the virus and "could suffer from significant and even dangerous morbidity."
Following the US Food and Drug Administration's authorization of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine in children aged 5 to 12, coronavirus chief Salman Zarka told Army Radio Israel was in the process of acquiring doses from the drugmaker. "We are waiting for the experts' decision next Thursday." He said that depending on how the process moved forward, "I believe we can begin vaccinating kids in the second half of November."
Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash told the Kan public broadcaster: "We want to examine our morbidity and for the Israeli public to feel we aren't making a decision casually, even if it comes after the FDA authorization. I believe most parents will vaccinate, but it will take time."
Meanwhile, US officials on Friday said barring an unforeseen breakthrough, intelligence agencies won't be able to conclude whether COVID-19 spread by animal-to-human transmission or leaked from a lab.
The paper issued by the Director of National Intelligence elaborates on findings released in August of a 90-day review ordered by US President Joe Biden. That review said that US intelligence agencies were divided on the origins of the virus but that analysts do not believe the virus was developed as a bioweapon and that most agencies believe the virus was not genetically engineered.
China has resisted global pressure to cooperate fully with investigations into the pandemic or provide access to genetic sequences of coronaviruses kept at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which remains a subject of speculation for its research and reported safety problems. Biden launched the review amid growing momentum for the theory – initially broadly dismissed by experts – that the virus leaked from the Wuhan lab.
China remains an exceedingly difficult place for intelligence operations and has fought back against allegations that it mishandled the emergence of the pandemic, which has killed 5 million people worldwide. Senior officials involved in the full report's drafting said they hoped it would better inform the public about the challenges of determining the virus's origins.
"We don't think we're one or two reports away from being able to understand it," said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.
The full report notes that the Wuhan Institute of Virology "previously created chimeras, or combinations, of SARS-like coronaviruses, but this information does not provide insight into whether SARS Cov-2 was genetically engineered by the WIV."
Information that lab researchers sought medical treatment for a respiratory illness in November 2019 "is not diagnostic of the pandemic's origins," the report said.
Allegations that China launched the virus as a bioweapon were dismissed because their proponents "do not have direct access to the Wuhan Institute of Virology," are making scientifically invalid claims, or are accused of spreading disinformation, the report said.
Four agencies within the intelligence community said with low confidence that the virus was initially transmitted from an animal to a human. A fifth intelligence agency believed with moderate confidence that the first human infection was linked to a lab.
Prior to writing the report, analysts conducted what the report describes as a "Team A/Team B" debate to try to strengthen or weaken each hypothesis.
The report identifies types of data that investigators still want China to provide access to, including records and tissue samples from several markets in Wuhan, including the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, Qiyimen Live Animal Market, Dijiao Outdoor Pet Market, and others. Scientists originally believed the virus emerged from animals sold at the Huanan market, which has since been ruled out by some as the origin site.
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