The secret of the medicine that Israel secretly brought from Japan to treat coronavirus

Israeli media said that Tel Aviv had secretly obtained a test drug for the coronavirus, to begin testing it in hospitals.

IDF Radio (Ghali Tsahal) said, on Monday evening, that the Israeli Foreign Ministry was able to bring in a medicine called “Avigan” from Japan, in coordination with the Tel Aviv embassy there.

The medicine will be used in “Hadassah” hospital in Jerusalem and “Ichilov” in Tel Aviv (center), “Poria” in Tiberias (north), and “Soroka” in Beersheba south of the country.

The medicine, which can reduce the period of treatment of patients, will be used “under close medical supervision,” according to the same source.

The radio quoted “Jaffa Ben Ari”, the Israeli ambassador to Japan, as saying that “the experimental medicine was obtained thanks to the developed diplomatic relations with Tokyo, and the recognition of the level of Israeli research”.

For his part, Israeli website “Calcalist” said: “The drug has proven effective in treating the coronavirus in its early stages”.

He explained that “Avigan” arrived in Israel within the framework of cooperation between its embassy in Japan and the foreign and health ministries.

The site pointed out that the medicine reached Israel in the context of “relations” with the Japanese company “Fujifilm”, indicating that Israel is one of the first countries in the world to obtain it.

During the past 24 hours, Israel recorded 474 new cases of the virus, raising the total to 8,904, and it recorded 8 deaths, bringing the total to 57.

As of Tuesday morning, the number of coronas infected worldwide exceeded one million and 340,000, of whom more than 74,000 had died, while more than 278,000 had recovered.