In a dramatic but expected announcement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday evening that everyone entering Israel will be required to enter quarantine for two weeks, due to the Coronavirus threat.
The obligatory quarantine policy will be in place for the next two weeks (which is approximately until two weeks before Pesach), after which the policy will presumably be reevaluated.
Netanyahu also said that additional steps are being taken to safeguard Israel’s economy.
According to Barak Ravid of Israel Channel 13 News, the reason that passengers from all countries will need to be quarantined, and not just those returning from high-risk countries, was based on a request by US Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday to Prime Minister Netanyahu, to not single out the United States among the high-risk countries.
As no other country has yet placed the US on the high-risk list. Pence was concerned that once Israel marked the US as high-risk, other countries would quickly follow suit.
Participating in the discussions on how to handle the crisis were Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, Economy and Industry Minister Eli Cohen, Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, Transportation Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Agriculture Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services Minister Ofir Akunis, the director generals of the relevant government ministries, Defense Ministry officials, the Director of the Biological Institute, the Science and Technology Ministry Chief Scientist, the Director of the Economy and Industry Ministry Innovation Authority and other officials.
One of the primary concerns Israel has with the spread of the Coronavirus is not necessarily its death rate, but rather that too many people will become seriously ill at the same time, and the number of patients will overwhelm the capabilities and capacity of Israel’s medical system. By enforcing a quarantine, the number and rate of infected people can be slowed down and (hopefully) kept at manageable levels.