Health Ministry reports 4,624 new cases, while 1,198 people still battle virus in hospital with 729 in serious condition and 234 on ventilators; Death toll rises to 5,779 after 20 more people succumb to the pathogen
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
A technician collects nasal swab samples for COVID-19 at the coronavirus lab, at the Ben-Gurion International Airport on February 28, 2021. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)
The coronavirus outbreak pushed Israel’s mortality rate up from its lowest-ever level at the start of 2020 to numbers not seen since the 1990s, according to a report published Monday.
The number of deaths in the country rose by 7 percent during 2020 compared to the years 2017-2019, taking into consideration population growth, the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies said in its report. However, considering the fact that the figures had been expected to decrease without the virus spread, the mortality rate actually rose by about 10%, according to study author Prof. Alex Weinreb.
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has become the first woman and the first African to be chosen as director general of the World Trade Organisation. The Conversation Africa’s Wale Fatade asks Dr Monica Orisadare, an assistant professor of economics and director of the Centre for Gender and Social Policy Studies at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria about Okonjo-Iweala’s achievement and what it means. What does her career rise represent for Nigerian women?