100,000 Israelis expected to be in quarantine with tough new rules

The huge spike in quarantine numbers is the result of a new list of countries put on the list for home isolation.

By David Isaac, World Israel News

Israel’s Health Ministry took unprecedented steps on Wednesday to delay the spread of the deadly coronavirus, sending 50,000 into quarantine with harsh new rules that could see as many as 100,000 forced into home isolation for a two-week period.

The huge spike in quarantine numbers is the result of a new list of countries put on the list for which home isolation is required. Israelis returning from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and Spain now fall under the new guidelines.

The ministry also announced that events larger than 5,000 people will be banned across the country. The new rule will have an impact on celebrations for the upcoming holiday of Purim, which begins the evening of March 9.

Health workers are prohibited from traveling for fear that they will have to go into two weeks’ isolation upon their return and won’t be available to work.

So far only 15 Israelis have been identified as carriers of the coronavirus, four of whom were infected by the same returning traveler from Italy.

Israeli health officials consider the situation at present under control, a direct result of far-reaching measures it has already taken.

Itamar Grotto, deputy director general of the Health Ministry, who is himself in isolation after returning from Japan where he helped Israelis under quarantine aboard the cruise ship Diamond Princess, said “At the moment there isn’t a large sickness in Israel, it’s mainly outside Israel and we’re focused on people coming from there.”

The ministry’s goal is to delay what it considers the inevitable spread of the virus for another two to three weeks.

A health official told Channel 11 news on Wednesday that such a delay would be a major accomplishment, buying more time for a cure to be found.

Yediot Ahronot quoted another health official on Thursday, who said, “We’re taking steps to delay and shrink the spread of the coronavirus, but we expect within two to three weeks there will be an outbreak. We’re talking about thousands of sick and three percent will die.”

Until now, students have been the most affected. When a 9th grader was recently found to have caught the virus at a toy store, his entire school, including teachers and staff, were sent into quarantine.

An administrator at another school who caught the virus at the same store (managed by a person who had returned from Italy with the virus) led to 27 students, seven teachers and an aide going into home isolation.

In late February, 90 Israeli students were sent into isolation after they came into contact with a group of South Korean pilgrims visiting the country.

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