Benjamin Netanyahu holds a briefing on the coronavirus on March 8, 2020. (GPO/Koby Gideon)
On Sunday evening, the prime minister consulted with the heads of the health, interior, and national security ministries to discuss strategies for fighting the coronavirus.
By World Israel News Staff
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu oversaw an assessment of the coronavirus in Israel on Sunday evening, with the participation of Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, Economy and Industry Minister Eli Cohen, National Security Council (NSC) head Meir Ben-Shabbat, Health Ministry Director General Moshe Bar Siman Tov, Finance Ministry Director General Shai Babad, Foreign Ministry Director General Yuval Rotem and other officials.
In comments following the meeting, Netanyahu referneced his discussions with Head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Dr. Deborah Birx and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, thanking Pence and President Donald Trump “for their extraordinary cooperation with Israel.”
Netanyahu continued, “Tomorrow, we set a meeting with our senior technological experts who are dealing with this subject and with the professional team from Health Ministry and the other relevant government ministries. At 14:00 tomorrow, we set a professional meeting on these technological issues with Dr. Birx’s American team. She has greatly praised our national readiness. She said that the State of Israel is enacting a national policy – they see that things are very much under control and she commended that we have a national strategy.”
Regarding the imposition of a quarantine requirement on all individuals entering the country, Netanyahu explained, “If we do this, there are questions here, if there will be exceptions, if essential routes will be left. We are not talking about closing our gates. We are only discussing requiring quarantine for whoever arrives in the country, returning Israelis or foreign nationals coming to the country. As I stated, this is not a simple decision.”
Netanyahu noted that “if there is a very major outbreak of the disease, it will be very difficult to maintain the economy.”
Finally, Netanyahu mentioned that he will hold a conference call with the leaders of countries in the Middle East on Monday to discuss strategies to combat the virus.
On Saturday, Netanyahu announced a five-point plan to combat the coronavirus.
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