A memorial siren brought traffic to a halt in Israel as it honoured six million Jews killed in the Nazi Holocaust, and gave thanks for its swift rollout of Covid-19 vaccines as a lifesaver for elderly survivors.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said 900 in that community had died as a result of the coronavirus. But many times more had been inoculated in time.

“Some we did not manage to reach with vaccines in time, but writ large, the vaccine succeeded,” he said, addressing the survivors at a ceremony.