The Health Ministry began clearing ground in several Israeli cities, including Rishon Lezion, to make way for hospitals to treat coronavirus patients should any be detected, Mako reported on Tuesday.
Due to the rapid infection rate of the coronavirus, which passes via air particles and fecal matter, patients need to be kept in special conditions to prevent them from infecting other people, including the medical staff which offers them help.
Rishon Lezion's municipality raged over what they saw as “a grabbing attempt in a city-owned space” and said “we will not become Israel’s coronavirus city.”
In the past, the ministry claimed that it is impossible to ensure the virus will not reach Israel due to Israelis and other people freely coming and leaving the country, including to China and Thailand.
“So far, the virus has not arrived to this country,” the ministry said, “but our working assumption is that it will.”
The municipality turned to the court asking the Health Ministry to clear the zone and be barred from building a facility on the land controlled by the city.