Defense Minister Naftali Bennett called the first meeting of the Emergency Time Economy team on Tuesday to discuss various scenarios as the nation announced tougher measures to combat the novel coronavirus.
The minister remarked that the economy is not yet officially in a state of emergency and the meeting is designed to discuss what would happen should it become needed to declare it so.
“We must be ahead of the novel coronavirus,” he said, “our enemies are slowness, bureaucracy and sluggishness.”
Bennett was careful to note that import to the country is still taking place as normal and the nation’s food reserves are fully stocked.
“We are entering into a tunnel,” he said, “and we do not know how long it is going to be.”