Man and infant suspected of coronavirus quarantined in Hadera hospital

Man quarantined with them has been released; first confirmed cases in the Middle East have been reported in the United Arab Emirates. Over 6,000 cases and 130 deaths reported worldwide.

By AARON REICH
The Hillel Yaffe hospital in Hadera. (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
The Hillel Yaffe hospital in Hadera.
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
The Health Ministry began discussing on Wednesday night measures to stem the coronavirus outbreak in Israel, including barring Chinese workers from entering the country and canceling flights from and to China.
“We’re heading toward dramatic steps in fighting the coronavirus,” Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman said at a conference in Eilat on Wednesday.
His comments come as a four-year-old and a one-year-old are quarantined in Hadera’s Hillel Yaffe Medical Center due to suspicions of having contracted the coronavirus, The Jerusalem Post’s sister publication Maariv reported on Wednesday.
The Health Ministry is in contact with the hospital in order to oversee the case.
Litzman also said a hearing will be held on Thursday with the World Health Organization representative in Israel, Dr. Luigi Millieroni, at the Tel Aviv Emergency Department.
A man was originally hospitalized under quarantine with the baby and child, but it was later reported that the man was cleared and discharged from the hospital. The condition of the children is unclear.
The news comes as the deadly virus has spread worldwide, originating in Wuhan in the Hubei province of China.
More than 6,000 cases have been confirmed as well as over 130 deaths.
The United Arab Emirates’ health ministry confirmed four cases of coronavirus Wednesday, marking the first instances of the virus in the Middle East.
The Health Ministry signed a public order on Tuesday to prepare dealing with the virus should it enter Israel, but said that at the present time the situation is not urgent.

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Due to the outbreak, the Israeli international insurance service PassportCard released a statement that it would be distributing hygienic masks to all their clients going abroad prior to boarding at Ben-Gurion Airport. The company currently has an inventory of 100,000 masks and will be distributing them at their stand in Terminal 3 of the airport.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.


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