Heena Sharma Blog

  Israel's Ministry of Health reported 3,218 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the tally of infections in the country to 878,931. The death toll from the virus in Israel rose by nine to 6,486, while the number of active cases rose by 2,069 to 20,437, the highest since March 18. The number of patients in serious condition rose from 206 to 217, the ministry said. The total recoveries from the virus in Israel climbed to 852,008 after 1,140 newly recovered cases were added. The number of people who have received the first dose of vaccine in Israel reached nearly 5.79 million, or 62.1 percent of its total population, while nearly 5.38 million people have been vaccinated with the second dose. Read More

  After jumping out to a quick start in its vaccination campaign, Israel has announced that it has decided to share a small surplus of its coronavirus vaccines with several friendly countries. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision on Tuesday to share the vaccines with his diplomatic partners comes at a time when Israel has come under international criticism for not providing significant quantities to the Palestinians. He also faced accusations from a rival of acting unilaterally and wasting taxpayer funds. Netanyahu's move is the latest illustration of how coronavirus vaccines have emerged as a kind of diplomatic currency, with countries that have the medicines using their supplies for political gain. While Israel does not produce vaccines, Netanyahu has moved aggressively to secure enough vaccines for Israel's 9.3 million people in deals with Pfizer and Moderna. In just under two months, Israel has vaccinated roughly half its population, one of the highest pe...

  Israel has launched a Covid-19 vaccination programme for industry and hi-tech employees at workplaces, the Manufacturers Association of Israel (MAI) said. The operation has been initiated by MAI, the Ministry of Health, the Israel Defense Forces, and the country's national emergency service Magen David Adom, reports Xinhua news agency. Vaccinations of workers will begin within a few days, as vaccine vehicles will come to the workplaces, reports Xinhua news agency. It will take place alongside the general vaccination campaign in the country, which began in December 20, 2020. The vaccines will be provided to employees free of charge. Ron Tomer, President of the MAI, said: "We are making every effort on all fronts to raise the vaccination rate among workers. The operation will promote a safe and healthy work environment." Read More

The discovery that hackers could snoop on WhatsApp should alert users of supposedly secure messaging apps to an uncomfortable truth: “End-to-end encryption” sounds nice — but if anyone can get into your phone’s operating system, they will be able to read your messages without having to decrypt them. According to a report in the Financial Times on Tuesday, the spyware that exploited the vulnerability was Pegasus, made by the Israeli company NSO. The malware could access a phone’s camera and microphone, open messages, capture what appears on a user’s screen, and log keystrokes — rendering encryption pointless. It works on all operating systems, including Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, and Microsoft’s rarely used mobile version of Windows. The cybersecurity community has known about it for years, and activists have been raising hell about its use against dissidents and journalists in dozens of countries — although NSO itself says it doesn’t sell Pegasus to unsavory regimes and t...