After five more Israelis were diagnosed with the coronavirus on Friday and Motzei Shabbos, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stated that the coronavirus outbreak is a global pandemic and that there is no basis to the assumption that the virus will disappear when the weather grows warmer. The prime minister also warned that the virus is now spreading to Africa and no one knows how the pandemic will end.

Netanyahu said that the government is working on a multifaceted plan to address the coronavirus crisis, including disinfecting public areas such as train stations and bus stations, opening a line of credit for affected businesses and enlisting the Air Force to ensure Israel has essential supplies.

The director-general of the Health Ministry, Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, said on Motzei Shabbos that Israel may place restrictions on flights arriving from some parts of the US on a state-by-state basis. Currently, the Health Ministry is only considering placing restrictions on flights from New York, Washington, DC, and California. It is also considering placing restrictions on flights from Norway, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Following the speech, the Health Ministry announced that three more Israelis have been diagnosed with the virus, bring the number of confirmed cases in Israel to 25.

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One patient, a Tel Aviv resident returned from Venice on February 22 on EasyJet flight EJU3342 and has been in self-quarantine since then, only leaving his house to vote at an “isolation voting booth” on March 2.

Another patient, a resident of central Israel, returned from Athens, Greece on February 27 on Aegean flight A3924. The third patient flew to Madrid on February 28 on Arkia flight IZ231 and returned on Arkia flights SN3728 from Madrid to Brussels and SN3293 from Brussels to Tel Aviv.

On Motzei Shabbos, a 50-year-old resident of central Israel who returned to Israel from Barcelona on March 1 on El Al flight LY394 was diagnosed with the virus, Israel’s Health Ministry stated.

בהלת הקורונה: החולה ה-22 היה על טיסת אל על לברצלונה ובחזרהhttps://t.co/Qtp3mlkbi7<< pic.twitter.com/9uBkgJVr47

— עכשיו 14 (@Now14Israel) March 7, 2020

Four Israelis were diagnosed on Friday. One patient, a Haifa resident in his 30s, returned to Israel from Austria on March 1, and a second patient, a resident of central Israel, returned from Madrid on March 2. The third patient, in his 50s, returned from Zurich on March 4th and the fourth patient, also a resident of central Israel in his 50s, returned from Madrid on February 27.

Also, the Health Ministry said a French tourist who was in Israel last week on a brief one-day visit was diagnosed with the virus upon returning to Italy.

The tourist flew to Israel on Sunday, March 1 on Transavia flight 3930 and returned on Transavia flight 3933 the next day, on Monday, March 2.

On Sunday night, he attended a family event at the Ramban shul in Jerusalem between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. and the next morning, on March 2, he was the Hille Café in Ramat Beit Hekerem between 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. He then took the Jerusaem-Ben Gurion train line to the airport from the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem.

Also on Friday, the Foreign Ministry stated that an Italian citizen who was in Israel for a conference from February 23 -25 was diagnosed with the coronavirus upon returning to Italy. The tourist spent most of his time in his hotel room in Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv.

The Palestinian Authority announced on Saturday that 15 American tourists have been placed in quarantine at the Angel Hotel near Bethlehem after a coronavirus outbreak was identified at the hotel on Thursday and 7 hotel employees were diagnosed with the virus.

There are now 16 confirmed cases of the virus in Bethlehem which was apparently spread by a group of Greek tourists, 23 of whom were diagnosed with the virus upon returning to Greece. PA President Mahmoud Abbas declared a state of emergency in the PA and ordered the closure of all educational institutions and tourism and religious sites.

Defense Minister Naftali Bennett placed Bethlehem on lockdown with the coordination of the PA, banning all Israelis and Palestinians from entering or leaving the city. Israeli and Palestinian health officials held a joint meeting on Thursday to coordinate efforts to stem the spread of the virus.

הקורונה ברשות: אבו מאזן הכריז על מצב חירום, סגר הוטל על בית לחם https://t.co/T3ALzPLJNE pic.twitter.com/FepyZMVdzF

— Globes גלובס (@globesnews) March 6, 2020

An East Jerusalem Arab who served as the Greek tour group’s bus driver was diagnosed with the coronavirus on Thursday and is now in critical condition with acute pneumonia in Poriya Hospital in Tiverya.

Dozens of tour groups in the PA cut their visits short and left Israel through Ben-Gurion Airport with the assistance of Israel Police, security forces, the Foreign Ministry and Health Ministry.

Also on Motzei Shabbos, the Health Ministry instructed all Israelis who attended the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference in Washington D.C. last week to self-quarantine on Motzei Shabbos, following AIPAC’s announcement that two New Yorkers who attended the conference were diagnosed with the coronavirus. There were 18,000 participants at the conference, including several world leaders and dozens of US Congress members. US Vice President Mike Pence was the keynote speaker at the event.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)