Israeli volunteers help doctors with home tasks

Volunteers taking part in an initiative in Israel are assisting doctors and healthcare workers in everyday life tasks so they can focus on the fight against coronavirus.

Besides providing protective gear and other medical supplies, an army of volunteers has spread across the country, carrying out grocery shops, delivering home-cooked meals, babysitting children and even walking the pets of health care workers.

Adi Karmon Scope, the founder of the initiative said that the aim is to ''make sure that our medical teams are taken care of, all their personal lives are taken care of so they can really focus on only being a professional and at their best in the hospitals."

She uploaded a Facebook post calling on Israelis to assist those on the frontline of the pandemic, the health care professionals  who are saving lives while being exposed to long hours in hospitals and the families they have left behind.

In less than three weeks, more than 10,000 have signed up to the initiative.

In Israel, over 9,000 people have contracted coronavirus and more than 70 have died.

The government imposed severe restrictions on movement to try to slow the spread of COVID-19, but it brought out a sense of solidarity across vulnerable neighbourhoods,

Einat Kedem, a 51-year-old digital project manager from Raanana in central Israel was enthusiast to help those on the frontline of the battle against coronavirus.

She said in her community it was way they could "feel like a part of something," despite having to stay at home most of the time.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks.

For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and could lead to death.