There are 529 Israelis who have been diagnosed with the coronavirus as of Thursday, the Health Ministry announced. Six patients are in critical condition, 13 are in moderate condition and 12 have recovered.   

One of the newly diagnosed patients is a nurse at the Poriya Hospital in Tiverya. Eight of her co-workers were instructed to self-quarantine. 

The Health Ministry’s announcement of the number of new cases was delayed on Thursday due to the increased amount of tests it is carrying out. Instead of the usual report at 8 a.m., the data was reported at about 10:30 a.m. 

“As the number of locations where tests are being performed (20 laboratories) and the very high number of daily tests (over 2,200 tests as of Wednesday), gathering and tallying the data, including the number of people who tested positive will take longer,” said the Health Ministry’s spokesperson Eyal Bason. 

Shalva Dahan, the last Diamond Princess cruise ship passenger still hospitalized in Sheba Medical Center was released on Thursday. 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with senior Arab doctors at his office in Jerusalem on Wednesday night to urge them to encourage the Arab sector to follow the Health Ministry’s guidelines.  

“There is a problem in the general public, and especially in the small villages,” the prime minister said at the meeting. “We need to fix this immediately.” 

“[The coronavirus] doesn’t differentiate between Jews, Arabs, Circassians, Bedouins and Christians. It doesn’t differentiate between religions and sector and therefore, all citizens of the state must take full responsibility and act with strict discipline,” Netanyahu said. 

“If some of the public, in one place or another, doesn’t adhere to these instructions, it simply leads to infecting, first of all, its closest family members and also the general public. I ask for the cooperation of the entire Arab-speaking public, the Arab citizens of Israel. I’m asking you for your sake and for the common future of us all, please follow the instructions. “

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)