On Thursday morning, the director-general of the Health Ministry, Moshe Bar Siman Tov, told Army Radio that he expects that in the near future, dozens of Israelis will be diagnosed with the virus per day, if not more. Over the last week, the ministry has been rolling out new restrictions on Israelis to help stop the spread of the potentially lethal virus. On Wednesday evening, the ministry said that public gatherings could not longer have more than 100 people. In addition, it advised that universities and other higher education institutions should prepare for distance learning ahead of their possible closure.
Bar Siman Tov advised that Israelis to "change your lifestyle to deal with an external threat" and reminded them that it is the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions that are most at risk for becoming fatally ill from COVID-19.Earlier in the week, the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that all people entering Israel from abroad would be required to adhere to 14 days of home-quarantine. Foreigners who cannot prove they have a place to stay will be refused entry.Health Minister Ya'acov Litzman has compared Israel to Switzerland, which has a similar population, to show how well the country is doing at curtailing the spread of the virus. On Wednesday evening, the southern Swiss canton of Ticino declared a state of emergency over the coronavirus. According to local media, approximately 130 people have been confirmed to be carrying the virus in the canton, 11 are in the intensive care unit and one person has died. As of March 11, there were 650 cases of coronavirus in Switzerland, more than 1,000 in the United States and about 130,000 worldwide.On Wednesday, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic.