JERUSALEM (JTA) — An emergency order issued Sunday means that anyone arriving in Israel from overseas now must go directly to a state-run quarantine hotel.
It comes a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a halt to all flights to Israel until the country settled on a way to isolate new arrivals. That order came after several high-profile instances of people arriving in the country scattering without assurance that they would follow quarantine rules.
In the most recent example, after a flight from New York, a coronavirus hotspot, landed at Ben Gurion Airport Saturday, the 70 Israeli passengers were allowed to return to their homes, many in taxis, without being supervised or checked or even given masks.
The emergency order, in place until at least April 22, says that “all persons returning from abroad will, upon their return to Israel, be sent to quarantine by the state at designated hotels.” The order allows for exceptions to be granted on a case-by-case basis, but a 14-day quarantine rule will remain in effect for all arrivals.
Flights to Israel were reinstated on Sunday after the passage of the emergency order.
