Number of coronavirus patients in Israel rises to 104 - Health Ministry

Two of the diagnosed patients are children, ages 10 and 11. Two others recently returned from America.

By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN
Coronavirus quarantine ward at Sheba Hospital in Ramat Gan (photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/MAARIV)
Coronavirus quarantine ward at Sheba Hospital in Ramat Gan
(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/MAARIV)
The number of Israelis who have been diagnosed with coronavirus rose to 104 on Thursday, according to the Health Ministry.
Currently, there are 34,474 Israelis in home quarantine, the Health Ministry announced.
Three Israelis have already recovered from the virus.
As the country went to bed on Wednesday, there were 97 people. 
The following are highlights of recently diagnosed people and how they contracted the virus:
>Patients Nos. 84, 85 and 86 are in their 30s and 40s and recently returned to Israel from a trip in Germany. They arrived back in the country on March 12 and have been in isolation since then.
>Patients Nos. 87 and 88 are children, a 10-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl. They are the offspring of patient No. 42. The boy had been with his father in Spain, returning to the country on February 26. 
> Patients Nos. 89 and 90 are two women in their 60s from central Israel. They recently traveled to Moscow and from Moscow to New York and back. 
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.