900 Holocaust survivors in Israel died from COVID last year
COVID-19 killed hundreds of Holocaust survivors in Israel last year and infected thousands of others, according to officials.
Data released Tuesday by the Central Bureau of Statistics shows that approximately 900 Holocaust survivors in the country died out of the 5,300 Holocaust survivors who caught the novel coronavirus in 2020.
Overall, Israel — which has a population of about 9 million people — has reported more than 600,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, and more than 4,500 deaths from the virus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The country, which started a third lockdown in response to the pandemic last month, has seen about 2.5 million people receive at least the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine so far, Bloomberg reported this week.
Infection and hospitalization rates are going down in Israel among those who have been vaccinated, according to research by Maccabi Health Services.
The World Health Organization says people aged 60 or older can be at increased risk of experiencing severe cases of COVID-19. Every Holocaust survivor is 75 or older.
Wednesday is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
A total of about 17,000 Holocaust survivors died in 2020, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.
With News Wire Services
