All members of the right-wing Yamina Party – including advisers and parliamentary assistants – who participated in a faction meeting two days ago, were ordered into quarantine after a party Knesset member tested positive for COVID-19.
MK Matan Kahana said in a statement that he had awakened Wednesday morning with a “slight fever” and immediately gone into self-isolation and taken a coronavirus test. “I just received the results, which were positive,” he said, and added that he felt well enough to continue working from his home.”
Also on Monday, the office of Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis announced the Likud minister had tested positive for COVID-19 and entered quarantine at his home as well.
Kahana had attended the faction meeting about 36 hours prior to testing positive, so the Health Ministry has not yet completed its epidemiological inquiry to determine who else may have been exposed to the virus. Until the contact tracing is completed, Yamina faction members will remain in quarantine.
On Tuesday, 663 new cases of the coronavirus were reported in Israel, with 305 of those reported in serious condition and 126 requiring ventilators for respiration support. At present there are 8,167 active cases of the virus in the country. Israel’s COVID-19 death toll now stands at 2,683.