Countries should be working together to fight coronavirus, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told European leaders Monday during a conference call to discuss the global spread of the virus.
"We are heading in the direction of mass closures of areas," he said during the video conference, "and cannot run an economy like that."
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L-R: National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Health Minister Yaakov Litzman hold a coronavirus video conference from Jerusalem with European leaders, March 9, 2020
(Photo: AFP)
Netanyahu said the primary objective in his view is to advance home testing for the coronavirus.
"When that happens we can narrow down considerably, we can separate more effectively and more efficiently, healthy people from sick people," he said.
Netanyahu also suggested that in order to ensure supply chains, "we have safe hubs and safe planes for travel. In other words, we can designate airports....we disinfect it all the time. Around the clock. We also test the people who work there all the time."
The prime minister also suggested such a designated airport could become a meeting place for leaders if the need arises.
Finally, the prime minister called on close cooperation and communication between the leaders.
"We each have our own experiences," he said. "We see what works, what doesn't work and we can trade with each other."
The call included the leaders of Austria, Cyprus, Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, Croatia, and Romania. Health Minister Yaakov Litzman was also on the call.
The heads of "big three" - France, Germany and Great Britain - were not present on the call.
On Sunday, Netanyahu said a decision will soon be made whether or not to require all Israelis returning from abroad to go into quarantine.
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A medical officer at Haifa's Rambam Hospital prepares its isolation ward
(Photo: Courtesy)
By Monday morning, there were 39 known cases of coronavirus in Israel, with most sufferers in good condition.
One man hospitalized after contracting the virus is in serious but stable condition at Poriya Hospital in Tiberias; another man is hospitalized at Sheba Medical Center in moderate condition.
Another 22,000 people are currently quarantined at home.