Israel’s health Minister and wife test positive for Coronavirus

Israel’s health minister, Yaakov Litzman and his wife Chava have both tested positive for Coronavirus.

The country’s Health Ministry which confirmed the development in a
statement released on Thursday April 2, said Litzman and Chava have been
in isolation after feeling unwell. The statement further revealed that
those who have been in contact with the health minister and his wife in
the past two weeks, would be notified and ordered into self-quarantine.

It was further gathered that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has
been made aware of the diagnosis, and it is expected that Litzman “will
continue to maintain a regular agenda from his home, in line with
medical recommendations.”

Before testing positive for the virus, the Minister held meetings
alongside Netanyahu and other top officials in the government and health
sector.  The Prime Minister re-entered quarantine again after emerging
from a previous one he got into after his adviser, Rivka Paluch tested
positive.

Litzman who is also a member of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah
Judaism, has been frequently criticized for his handling of the virus
outbreak in Israel. He was accused of pushing to delay stringent
restrictions on public gatherings that would have affected observance of
the Purim festival last month, and fought bitterly against last week’s
closing of synagogues.

Israel has 6,211 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 33 deaths from the disease.