Israel: Number of Verified Coronavirus Cases Hits 100

YERUSHALAYIM
Israeli border policemen, wearing protective gear as a precaution against the coronavirus, guard at an Israeli checkpoint on the outskirts of Yerushalayim, Wednesday. (Reuters/Ronen Zvulun)

The Health Ministry announced Thursday morning that the number of verified coronavirus infections in Israel has already reached 100.

Ninety-one of the verified patients are hospitalized, and one patient is on the way to hospitalization, the ministry said. Five are not hospitalized for now and three have recovered and been released to their homes.

Two patients are in serious condition and three are defined as moderate, according to the ministry.

Among the newly diagnosed are two children, a 10-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl, from central Israel. The boy had recently traveled with his father to Spain.

The recent cases also included a pair of women in their 60s who returned from New York via Moscow on March 9, the ministry said.

The outbreak of the virus continued to disrupt schools, prisons, and some public transportation on Thursday, as hundreds more were sent into home quarantine.

On Wednesday night, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced evening that Israel is limiting public events in enclosed areas to 100 people.

The ban includes shuls and weddings, the Health Ministry director-general Moshe Bar Siman-Tov elaborated.

He said Israel was not currently considering shuttering schools and that public transportation was operating as usual in terms of Health Ministry instructions.

To curb the spread of the virus in the country, all Israelis returning from overseas are required to quarantine at home for 14 days. Non-Israeli nationals will be allowed into the country until Thursday at 8 p.m., but after that they will be barred entry unless they can demonstrate an ability to self-quarantine for two weeks.

The quarantine measures are among the most dramatic to be introduced by any nation in the intensifying battle against the coronavirus. On Feb. 26, Israel was the first country in the world to advise its citizens against all non-essential overseas travel.

B’chasdei Shamayim, there have been no fatalities so far in Israel.

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