Wednesday, August 12, was the deadliest day Israeli medical personnel have faced since the start of the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus pandemic: 17 COVID-19 patients died from the virus within the past 24 hours, according to Israel’s Health Ministry.
This brought the death toll to 639 on Wednesday night.
Another 1,731 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 in the 24 hours since Tuesday night, bringing the number of Israelis actively infected and fighting the virus to 25,614.
Of those, 369 patients are listed in very serious condition; 110 people require respirators in order to breathe and another 156 patients are listed in fair or “moderate” condition, the Health Ministry reported.
A total of 87,878 Israelis have been infected with the coronavirus.
Worldwide Doctors Fighting for Millions
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported Wednesday a total of 5,119,711 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country. Sadly, 163,651 Americans have died from the virus in the US.
Worldwide, as of 10 pm Wednesday there were more than 20 million people diagnosed with the novel coronavirus: a total of 20,684,917 people around the world have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic according to the Worldometer website. Worse, 749,240 people have been killed by this virus, and it shows no signs of stopping thus far.
The good news: 13,571,927 people around the world have recovered from the coronavirus, and that figure is rising each day as well.
Russia’s First Daughter Receives First Vaccine
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s daughter received the first dose of “Sputnik V,” the world’s first official COVID vaccine, Tuesday in Moscow, where Russian officials said it provided safe, stable immunity.
Professor Ze’ev Rotstein, director-general of Israel’s Hadassah University Medical Center, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday the hospital is “playing a part in conducting safety and efficacy studies” of the Russian vaccine. He added that Hadassah’s branch in Moscow is collaborating in the clinical trials.
A vaccine is also being developed in Israel through the Israel Institute for Biological Research, with the expectation to begin human trials sometime in October. In addition, Israel has signed agreements with Moderna and Arcturus Therapeutics to purchase their vaccines which are also in development and which are now conducting human trials already.