Is India's Ally Israel Winning The Battle Against Coronavirus?

For the first time in 10 months, Israel saw the first two days with zero Covid-19 deaths last week, while the number of positive cases has also dropped, according to the Health Ministry.

While India is now facing a massive surge in daily Covid-19 cases and some states are imposing stricter measures to fight the virus, Israel is getting ready to go out without masks.

Last week, Israel’s official Twitter account posted a video of its citizens symbolically removing their masks owing to new rules coming into place. However, they still have to wear masks in indoor public places.

The west Asian country has achieved a creditable milestone by vaccinating most of its adults since January 2021.

In the same month, when the country noticed a massive second wave, soon, the numbers of infection cases started to go down.

A month later, the Israeli government started to relax lockdown restrictions, as vaccinations against Covid-19 were rolled out more widely.

Now, the country has the highest vaccination rate in the world.

As per the ministry, more than 53 per cent of the country's population of about nine million have received two doses of the vaccine.

Even though last week, Israel celebrated two consecutive days of 'zero Covid-19 deaths' on 23 and 24 April, the country reported four deaths on 25 April and two people died of the disease on 26 April.

However, out of the 1,666 active cases in Israel, there are 145 serious cases, including 81 people on ventilators, while the toll stood at 6,353 according to the health ministry’s data.

Time to Help Others Now

Israel’s Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv converted its parking space into a makeshift emergency Covid-19 ward to fight the virus during the toughest times of the country.

But now, that place has returned to its original form.

As the restaurants in the country are getting full, music concerts are being held around the country, and bars and hotels are opening for vaccinated people, Israel’s Foreign Ministry recommended the government to send aid to its ally India.

As India is facing an unprecedented situation in healthcare that has stretched the abilities of its hospitals, the recommendation from the Israel Health Ministry is pending approval from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is expected to sign it shortly.