A maintenance worker at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem has tested positive for coronavirus on Monday and the Health Ministry launched an epidemiological investigation to check whether the employee was in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's vicinity in recent days.
Reportedly, the employee was around Netanyahu Saturday night, after being called in to set a sound system before the premier's statement on the coronavirus outbreak.
Among others in attendance were Finance Minister Israel Katz and Education Minister Yoav Galant. Katz was notified that he would not be required to go into isolation.
Sources in the Prime Minister's Office said that the maintenance worker contracted the virus from a family member connected to a student at Jerusalem's Gymnasia Rehavia, where a major outbreak infected dozens of students and staff in recent days. The employee himself has been in quarantine for two days.
At the end of March, Netanyahu went into isolation after his adviser, Rivka Paluch, was diagnosed with the pathogen. Following the incident, the prime minister underwent two coronavirus tests, both returned negative.
Health authorities allowed Netanyahu to step out of isolation after two days, however, he quickly found himself in isolation again after then-Health Minister Yaakov Litzman was also found to be carrying the virus. Following the diagnosis, the prime minister went into week-long isolation.
The Health Ministry reported Monday evening that 67 people have been tested positive for coronavirus since midnight.
There are currently 2.006 active coronavirus patients in the country and 29 of them are receiving respiratory assistance.
Since the onset of the pandemic in Israel, 285 patients have succumbed to complications of COVID-19.
On Wednesday, 5,423 coronavirus tests were conducted.