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Israeli PM Netanayhu re-enters quarantine after health minister tests positive for coronavirus

WION Web Team
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Apr 02, 2020, 04:34 PM IST
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File photo of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photograph:(Reuters)

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Health Ministery's director-general, Moshe Bar Siman Tov, along with other senior officials, will also enter quarantine following contacts with Litzman.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu re-entered quarantine for seven-days on Thursday as a precautionary measure after the health minister Yaakov Litzmand tested positive for the coronavirus.

Netanyahu's earlier quarantine ended in Wednesday which was imposed earlier this week after one of his staffers tested positive for the deadly virus which has so far infected almost a million people worldwide.

Health Ministery's director-general, Moshe Bar Siman Tov, along with other senior officials, will also enter quarantine following contacts with Litzman.

"Litzman and his wife feel well, are receiving treatment and will be quarantined and supervised," a health ministry statement said.

Israel has reported at least 29 deaths and more than 6,200 infections. Tight curbs have confined Israelis to their homes, forcing businesses to close and sending unemployment over 24%.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu announced new curbs on Wednesday to deter movement around Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish town that has suffered a disproportionately large outbreak.

"The situation there is horrible. Every day we stall, we put lives at risk," Litzman had said in an interview published on Tuesday in the Yedioth Ahronot newspaper.

"The public now has to listen to the health ministry."

(With inputs from agencies)