Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday evening that all Israelis returning from abroad will be required to be transferred directly to “coronavirus hotels” for quarantine.

Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said immediately after the announcement at a digital press conference that the plan was not logistically possible and too costly and that only passengers from New York, a major hotspot for the coronavirus, would be transferred to hotels.

However, it turned out that this move is illegal unless the passengers signed a form agreeing to be transferred to hotels before they boarded the flight. Therefore Israelis who arrived from Newark on Wednesday night had their temperatures taken and were asked if they had any COVID-19 symptoms. Anyone with fever or reported virus symptoms were sent to MDA to determine their status. Those without fever or symptoms were required to sign forms committing to self-quarantine for 14 days.

Fifteen passengers who requested to be sent to a hotel due to the fact that they did not have proper conditions at home to self-quarantine were transferred to the Prime Park Hotel in Jerusalem.

On Thursday it was reported that two of the passengers who arrived from Newark and were sent home to self-quarantine turned out to be positive for the coronavirus.

Netanyahu’s announcement came after Israeli media outlets reported that hundreds of Israelis had returned from coronavirus hot spots such as New York and France without being tested for the virus or even monitored to ensure they self-quarantined. Former Health Ministry Director-General Gabi Barabash said on Wednesday morning that allowing Israelis from hotspots into the country without any supervision is “idiotic” and risks turning Israel into a “branch of New York.” However, apparently the Health Ministry dis not have enough testing kits to perform tests on all Israelis returning from abroad.

On Wednesday, Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said: “We can’t put 4,000 people in hotels in one day, that’s clear. We will work on a more precise…and efficient plan than just putting up 50,000 Israelis in hotels paid for by Israeli citizens.”

Bennett said that quarantining tens of thousands of Israelis would cost about NIS 300-400 million a month and more importantly would create “a coronavirus incubator” in which the healthy passengers would catch the coronavirus from the infected ones. Instead, he intends on formulating a plan in which all passengers would be tested upon arrival and then be transferred to a hotel for only one day, until the test results are received. Anyone who tests negative would then be sent home to self-quarantine.

However, Bennett ordered that all passengers from New York be transferred to “cornavrius hotels” immediately.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)