Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday tightened the national stay-at-home policy aimed at containing the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, announcing the guidelines he had introduced earlier this week would now be enforced by police under emergency orders.
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"Under these orders, you, Israel's citizens, are required to stay at home. It is no longer a request, it is not a recommendation, it is an obligatory directive that will be enforced by enforcement authorities," Netanyahu said in a televised address.
The measures stopped short of a total national lockdown: Netanyahu said Israelis would still be allowed to shop for food and medicine, and some workers would be exempted from the restrictions.
Netanyahu had threatened on Wednesday to turn shelter-in-place guidelines into official orders, enabling police to fine or arrest those who ignore them, unless the public stepped up compliance.
Israel's Health Ministry has reported 573 confirmed cases of coronavirus infection. Forty-seven cases have been reported among Palestinians in Judea and Samaria.
