Israel on Wednesday ordered a two-week quarantine on people arriving from France, Germany, Spain, Austria, and Switzerland over coronavirus fears, after imposing similar measures on Italy and several Asian states.
Israel welcomed an unprecedented year of incoming tourism in 2019, with approximately 4.55 million tourists visiting the Jewish state. Breaking annual records for a third consecutive year, tourist entries increased by 11% compared to 2018, when 4,120,800 foreign visitors arrived in the country.
The Jewish state previously issued quarantine instructions for all arrivals from mainland China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Macau, South Korea, Japan, and Italy, and now added Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Spain.
We are at the peak of a global epidemic,” Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during his announcement of the latest travel bans.
“We are in a better situation than other countries because… we have taken strict, very strict measures, to slow the spread of Coronavirus,” he added.
Israel currently has 15 confirmed cases of the virus but no deaths, with some 7,000 others already in home-quarantine.
The Jewish state previously issued quarantine instructions for all arrivals from mainland China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Macau, South Korea, Japan, and Italy.
