The eleven Israelis that were quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan have landed at Ben-Gurion Airport early Friday morning.

The Israelis flew on a private jet chartered from Thailand through arrangements made by the Health and Foreign ministries.

The foreign crew manning the jet will not be permitted to enter Israel while the jet is being prepared for its immediate flight back to Asia.

The Israelis are being transferred in MDA ambulances to a special wing in the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer where they will be quarantined for another two weeks.

The sterile isolation rooms at Sheba are equipped with remotely controlled medical equipment, including sensors and a medical robot that can perform an examination without a doctor’s presence, a Channel 13 News report said. The patients will be given handheld devices to facilitate communication from outside the rooms.

The report added that relatives came to the hospital on Wednesday and left gifts and food. One family left a bottle of Corona beer on the table next to a family photograph.

Meanwhile, the Israel Health Ministry says that Israelis caught violating the mandatory home quarantine for travelers recently in East Asia could face a prison sentence of up to seven years. Travelers returning from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Thailand must self-quarantine for 14 days over concerns they may carry the new coronavirus.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)