2 Ministers, 2 MK in Quarantine; 427 Israeli Corona Patients

Jerusalem, 18 March, 2020 (TPS) -- Two Israeli Ministers and another two Members of Knesset (MK) have entered quarantine after being exposed to confirmed Coronavirus patients, as the number of infected Israelis grew to 427 on Wednesday morning.

The majority of the patients are in light condition, 10 are in moderate condition and five are in serious condition. Some are hospitalized, others are at home while some have entered the newly established Corona hotels at several locations in Israel.

A total of 11 have recovered and returned home. Some are being treated with experimental medications.

Minister of Interior Aryeh Deri Minister of Agriculture Tsahi Hanegbi and MKs Ram Ben Barak and Alon Schuster entered a 14-day quarantine after being exposed to confirmed Corona patients.

Hanegbi was at the Knesset on Monday for the swearing of the newly elected MKs, sending a scare through the parliament. All 120 MKs may be forced to be tested for Corona.

Israel’s Ambassador to Germany Jeremy Issacharoff and another diplomat, Aaron Sagi, contracted Corona. The Foreign Ministry ordered the Berlin embassy closed for two weeks.

The two were apparently infected after meeting with a German MP who had contracted the virus. The entire embassy staff was sent into isolation for two weeks.

The government announced new restricting measures on Tuesday afternoon and closed all parks and beaches, and essentially called on all citizens not to leave home unless there was an urgent need.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Tuesday evening that all steps taken by the government to curb the spread of Corona will be useless if the citizens do not obey the instructions.

“You have to understand, this is not a children’s game – it is life or death,” he told the press.

Director-General of the Ministry of Health Moshe Bar Simantov further warned that Israel “will also reach hundreds of new patients a day and there will be people who will die from the disease – it could happen soon … What happened in Italy could happen here too, there could be thousands in Israel to die from the disease.”

The government is working to significantly boost the number of Corona tests carried out on a daily basis to 3,000.

The novel Coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 167 countries around the world.

At least 199,000 cases of Coronavirus have been confirmed worldwide, including at least 8,000 deaths. Some 83,000 have recovered.