Thousands of Israelis currently in China, could coronavirus come here?
Health Ministry warns that while no patients suffering from coronavirus were found in the country, “it could happen any day.”
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFPeople wearing face masks walk past luxury boutiques in the Sanlitun shopping district in Beijing, China, as the country is hit by an outbreak of the new coronavirus, January 25, 2020(photo credit: REUTERS/THOMAS PETER)
Health Ministry director-general Moshe Bar Siman Tov told the press on Tuesday that his office is working under the assumption that, sooner or later, a patient with coronavirus will reach the country,Ynet reported.Over 100 Chinese citizens died in the epidemic, which crossed the borders of the People’s Republic to reach Canada, the US, Japan, Thailand and other countries. So far, China is the only country in which patients died, including a medical doctor who expired while caring for those with the virus.Unlike other nations, such as Turkey, at this point the airport authority doesn’t screen visitors arriving from China. Siman Tov explained that, as the virus can nest in the human patient for a period of 48 hours to 14 days, to keep roughly 1000 visitors from China arriving daily could actually get the opposite effect, meaning the virus could spread within the group as they wait to be checked.He said that his ministry will place a voluntary examination booth where visitors could check if they caught the virus. Israelis are currently in China in their thousands to enjoy the festivities of Chinese New Year, which is the year of the rat.Health Minister Ya'acov Litzman signed on Monday the “order [to protect] the health of the people,” empowering his office to handle all scenarios involving the coronavirus. Among these powers is the legal option to have a patient committed against their will in isolation to examine if they have the virus or not.The virus, which is called corona due to its crown-shaped cells, is alleged to have spread as the result of unsanitary food products sold in Wuhan, China, where it was first spotted. China placed 15 cities under curfew and built new hospitals in a matter of days.“This virus is the devil,” said Chinese President Xi Jinping, “and we can not allow the devil to hide.”
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