In a statement to the media on Wednesday, the IDF stated that Chief of Staff General Aviv Kochavi will postpone his planned trip to the United States due to concerns about the Coronavirus. The trip, which was planned for next week, will now be pushed off to a later undetermined date.

Daniel Hershkowitz, who serves as Israel’s Civil Service Commissioner issued a directive that prohibits all civil servants from flying abroad as part of their work travel plans. The directive was handed to the Ministries and is dependent on the Ministries to enforce. The ban applies to travel that has already been approved as well as newly scheduled trips. Hershkowitz also encouraged civil servants to also avoid private travel.

Thus far, the death toll from the outbreak of the Coronavirus in Italy has jumped by 28 people to a total of 107 people over the last 24 hours alone. The number of infections in the country has risen to 3,090. So far, 276 people have recovered from the disease.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu arrived at the Health Ministry Wednesday afternoon to announce additional restrictions on tens of thousands of Israelis who have returned in the past two weeks or will now return from European countries. The new move has caused many Israelis to cancel their flights home and choose to stay abroad rather than go into house quarantine.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)