Hundreds gathered at Jerusalem's Western Wall on Sunday for a mass prayer to keep coronavirus at bay. According to local media, the prayer was an initiative of local rabbis and Jewish community leaders.
The Health Ministry announced Sunday that Israelis who travel to several Asian countries will be subject to mandatory quarantine for two weeks upon their return to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
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The mandatory isolation was already in effect for people who arrived in Israel from mainland China, but the new directive expanded this to anyone who arrives from Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau.
The coronavirus, thought to have emerged at a wildlife market in the central Chinese province of Hubei, has killed 1,665 people in China with latest figures showing 68,500 cases of the illness.
Video: Reuters
Safed Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu said, "They are really not far from our hearts, we feel their pain, we feel the distress of the people who are sick, who are in quarantine, who are fearing and we are opening our hearts more and more so that God will pity them and fill them full healing."
John Zo, a student from China who is currently in Israel, said, "I really appreciate it, I want to come here to stand together with them and pray together. I really appreciate because in this special time some of the people they are very sensitive with the virus, they are afraid to get in closer to Chinese people but the Rabbis, the Jewish people they did not say 'No' to China, so I think it's a very friendly action."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli citizens aboard a cruise ship who spent two weeks under quarantine off Japan over the coronavirus, will be evacuated soon.
Speaking ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, the prime minister said, "I want to thank the health minister that acted together with his team to bring the Israeli aboard the ship offshore Japan, those who did not catch the virus, they will come to Israel and will be in quarantine.
"Those who caught the virus are staying there, as per the decision of Japan's government and we have sent to them medical help, a doctor, to help them and we are all praying for their health. We will continue doing what's needed and act in the national level to prevent and delay as best as possible the spread of the disease in Israel."
Dr. Majdi Duhair, a Gaza Health Ministry official, said Sunday that "We check all the arrivals through a thermal camera which was set in the crossing at the entry gate whoever passes by this camera temperature is checked in an electronic way and whoever shows any sign or whoever is coming from China will be transferred to the medical clinic on site."
"We didn't receive any case of coronavirus coming from China. Therefore we clarify that Gaza is clean from this disease until now," he said.
