Israel to quarantine returnees from 5 European nations

ANKARA

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that any Israeli who returns to Israel from five European countries will go into quarantine because of the coronavirus, according to local media.

During a joint news conference with Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, Netanyahu called on Israelis returning from France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Austria to stay under quarantine for 14 days.

“We had to undertake extreme measures in order to slow down the infection rates in Israel and that’s what happened,” Netanyahu said, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Foreigners coming from those countries will not be allowed to enter the country, according to the country’s health ministry.

Israel previously issued travel bans against nationals from China, South Korea, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam and Italy.

At least 15 confirmed cases of the virus have been diagnosed in Israel.

The global death toll from the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, is more than 3,000, with an excess of 89,000 infected.

After declaring the outbreak an international health emergency, last week the World Health Organization raised the global risk level to very high.