TEL AVIV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd February, 2020) wo hundred South Korean citizens who have arrived in Israel over the last 24 hours will be quarantined at a military base to prevent a possible spread of the coronavirus disease, the Ynet news agency reported on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri ordered to ban all non-citizens who have visited either South Korea or Japan within two weeks from entering the country. Last week, a similar ban was introduced against people coming from Thailand, Macao, Hong Kong and Singapore. In early February, Israel suspended air traffic with China and banned people from China from entering the country.
Such measures were introduced after a group of Catholic tourists from South Korea visited Israel last week only to discover upon coming home that it had people infected with the novel coronavirus all along.
The Israeli authorities said on Saturday that anyone who had contacted with the group had to self-quarantine for 14 days.
Meanwhile, Israeli Ambassador to China Zvi Heifetz has been quarantined in Beijing as he traveled on the same plane that the South Korean group took to fly from Israel, South China Morning Post newspaper reported, citing the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
At the same time, South Korea announced the highest level of epidemiological threat as the number of Covid-2019 cases in the country spiked today, reaching 602.
Earlier in the day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjiamin Netanyahu held an emergency meeting at the Health Ministry comprising cabinet ministers and different senior officials devoted to the situation with the coronavirus in the country. The head of state in particular announced that tourists from Italy and Australia would be banned from entering the country, while Israelis returning from these states would have undergo 14-days quarantine upon arrival in Israel.
"We are constantly evaluating and adjusting our policy, and adapting it to developing circumstances. First, we are becoming stricter vis-à-vis entry into Israel from additional countries. Today, we are adding Australia and Italy and will add other countries as may be necessary. I have said that over-preparation is preferable to under-preparation. Until now, Israel has been stricter than any other country and we will continue to do whatever is necessary to prevent the spread of the virus in Israel," Netanyahu said on Twitter.
According to Netanyahu, a special ministerial team will be formed today and it will convene on a daily basis to deal with the issues related to the epidemic outbreak.
As of now, Israel has only one confirmed case of the disease within its borders, an Israeli woman, who was recently evacuated from the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship near Japan.
