Israel’s Netanyahu tests negative for coronavirus, leaving isolation Wednesday

Israel’s top officials were forced to enter quarantine as Health Minister tested positive

Israel’s caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has once again tested negative for COVID-19 coronavirus, his office said in a statement late on Tuesday.

According to the statement, the caretaker PM will leave self-isolation on Wednesday.

Netanyahu was forced to enter quarantine after his aide, Rivka Paluch, tested positive for COVID-19, with Israeli media offering conflicting reports on whether Netanyahu had any recent contacts with her or not.

After that, the caretaker PM, who had already spent a few days in isolation, along with other top officials leading the country’s response to the outbreak, got a new reason to self-isolate after Health Minister Yaakov Litzman tested positive for the virus.

Earlier in the day, Netanyahu told a security cabinet meeting that he was planning to submit the government’s strategy for managing the exit from the covonavirus crisis next week.

He reportedly floated the possibility of taking the first steps to ease the anti-coronavirus restrictions on April 19th, but said the date was not set in stone.

In the meantime, the nation-wide lockdown came into force in Israel on Tuesday, with non-essential travel between cities banned.

Wednesday evening will also see a curfew amid the Passover holiday, with all businesses shuttered and Israelis told not to stray further than 100 meters from home.