Israel’s health ministry said Friday that no COVID deaths were recorded on Thursday. It was the first day in 10 months that the ministry did not register any COVID deaths.The last time no new cases were recorded in the Middle Eastern country was June 29.Israel has been a world leader in inoculating its population against the coronavirus.More than 5 million Israelis, a little under 58% of the population, have received both doses of the vaccines.Meanwhile, India said Saturday that it had recorded 346,786 new COVID cases in the previous 24-hour period. The South Asian nation has reported record-breaking tolls of new cases for several days. At the same time, India’s hospitals are scrambling to provide oxygen for the COVID patients who are struggling to breathe.The Biden administration’s top medical adviser on the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said Friday the U.S. is attempting to help India contain its coronavirus surge by providing technical support and assistance.“It is a dire situation that we’re trying to help in any way we can,” Fauci said at the regularly held White House coronavirus briefing.The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday that there are 145.6 million global COVID-19 infections. The U.S. remains at the top of the list as the country with the most infections at almost 32 million. India is second on the list with more than 16.6 million cases, followed by Brazil with 14.2 million.A U.S. health panel has recommended ending a pause on the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, despite evidence that it is linked to rare cases of blood clots.The advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the CDC, said Friday that use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should be resumed in the U.S. after regulators had paused it last week to review reports of rare but severe blood clots in a handful of Americans who had received the shot.The panel voted 10-4 for the resumption of the vaccine, arguing that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks.Seventy-seven inmates at an Iowa maximum security prison for men received overdoses of the Pfizer COVID vaccine earlier this week.The prisoners at the Iowa State Penitentiary at Fort Madison were reported to have received doses that were six times the amount normally used.“The large majority of inmates continue to have very minor symptoms consistent with those that receive the recommended dose of the vaccine,” Cord Overton, a spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Corrections told the Des Moines Register newspaper in an email.Two members of the prison’s nursing staff, who administered the vaccines, have been placed on leave as the incident is investigated.Pope Francis met with a group of poor people Friday who were getting their coronavirus vaccinations, which had been donated by the Vatican.As the group gathered in the Paul VI audience hall at the Vatican to receive their second dose of the 600 available doses, the pope greeted them and volunteers helping with the vaccinations.
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