Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 15-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East, and the Jewish world, from Sunday through Thursday.

Tech Israel editor Ricky Ben David and health and science correspondent Nathan Jeffay join host Jessica Steinberg.

Jeffay offers an update about Omicron and the public policy of herd immunity, as well as the likelihood of many Israelis getting the virus within the next several weeks. He explores the difficulties of taking data from other countries regarding Omicron and Israel's experience so far.

He also discusses the situation of flu and corona, as well as the growing number of cases of avian flu which affects only birds, and the concerns about it.

Ben-David speaks about Israel’s need for a national food tech plan in order to stay ahead of other countries, looking at the three different areas of food technology currently being worked on by various start-ups and laboratories.

Discussed articles include:

What a herd immunity policy would look like, and why it may be premature for Israel

Up to a third of Israelis predicted to get COVID in next 3 weeks; tests running out

First patients in Israel receive Pfizer’s coronavirus-fighting pill

Avian flu killing birds in Israel could jump to humans, warns epidemiologist

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IMAGE: An Israeli health worker administers a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to a child at the Clalit Health Services in the central Israeli city of Modiin on January 2, 2022. (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP)

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