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The Health Ministry on Monday reported an additional 42 cases of the novel coronavirus in Israel, bringing the total number of confirmed infections up to 255.

The majority have light symptoms, while 13 are listed in moderate condition and five are seriously ill, the ministry said, adding that 8,325 tests have been carried out.

Another four people no longer display any symptoms and are recuperating, according to the ministry.

Tens of thousands more were in quarantine after either traveling to countries with high incidences of the virus or coming into contact with a carrier. The ministry said 50,337 were in self-isolation. Due to the relatively long time it takes for symptoms to develop, health officials believe that more people have contracted the virus, but haven’t yet been diagnosed.

Soldiers and medics operate a call center specifically meant to respond to cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus on March 15, 2020. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Israel Defense Forces said a fifth soldier has been diagnosed with COVID-19.

“An epidemiological study was conducted, and all those who were in close contact with him have been sent to home quarantine. Additional people who were in contact with him are being located now,” the military said.

Knesset staff check people’s temperature entering the parliament, March 16, 2020. (Knesset/Adina Velman)

Meanwhile, the swearing in of the 23rd Knesset was set to begin on Monday. In place of the usual mass swearing-in ceremony, the Knesset is swearing in lawmakers in 40 rounds of three lawmakers each, adhering to Health Ministry orders prohibiting gatherings of more than 10 people in an enclosed space.

Doctors complained on Monday that they had insufficient protective equipment for treating patients with the deadly virus, after 19 medical professionals contracted the disease.

“For days we have been warning of oversights, of protocols and instructions for checks that do not fit with the situation — all of these are leading to infiltrations, ticking time bombs in the wards, where [patients] are being received by teams lacking protective equipment, who are becoming infected and infecting others,” Dr. Rey Biton, of the medical residents organization Mirsham, wrote on Facebook.

Illustrative: Workers inside a building at Tel Aviv’s Tel Hashomer Hospital, which was converted into a coronavirus isolation unit, February 20, 2020. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

An anonymous senior official in the Health Ministry criticized his agency for what he described as a failure to ensure a sufficient supply of protective equipment — masks, gloves and hazmat suits — for such an outbreak.

“It is confounding what the Health Ministry has been doing in recent years. If it hasn’t been preparing for things like this — what has it been doing?” he asked the Walla news site.

Israel shuttered schools and most businesses over the past week in a bid to stem the spread of the virus in order to avoid overwhelming the country’s health infrastructure.

Similar efforts are underway around the world, especially in the hardest-hit nations of China, Italy, Iran, South Korea and Spain.

The Gran Via remains empty in Madrid on March 14, 2020, after regional authorities ordered all shops in the region be shuttered through March 26, save for those selling food, medicine and gas, in order to slow the coronavirus spread. (Javier Sobriano/AFP)

For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.

Italy, the worst-hit European country, reported its biggest day-to-day increase in infections on Sunday — 3,590 more cases in a 24-hour period — for a total of almost 24,747.

Dalia Samhouri, a regional official with the World Health Organization, said both Iran and Egypt, two of the most populous countries in the Mideast, were likely underreporting cases because infected people can still show no visible symptoms. Iran said it had nearly 14,000 virus cases and 724 deaths, while Egypt has reported 110 cases, including two fatalities.

As part of its measures to combat the spread, Israel’s government on Sunday approved a proposal to allow the Shin Bet security service to perform mass surveillance on Israelis’ phones without requiring a court order, prompting major concerns over privacy and civil liberty violations.

The measure still requires final approval from the Knesset’s subcommittee on clandestine services before it can be put into action.

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran said Friday the security forces will clear the streets nationwide within 24 hours so all citizens can be checked for coronavirus — its toughest measure yet to combat the outbreak.

The COVID-19 epidemic in Iran — a nation of more than 80 million people — has now claimed over 500 lives and infected more than 11,000.

Since it announced the first deaths last month, Iran has shut schools, postponed events and discouraged travel ahead of Nowrouz, the country’s New Year holidays.

But despite those and other measures including the cancellation of the main weekly Friday prayers, the official number of deaths and infections has continued to grow exponentially.

Iran’s supreme leader on Thursday ordered the armed forces to lead the battle against the outbreak.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei instructed the security forces to bring their services together and expand efforts to combat the virus.

Iranians, some wearing protective face masks, at stalls displaying produce at the Tajrish Bazaar in Iran’s capital Tehran on March 12, 2020. (AFP photo)

Acting on those orders, armed forces chief of staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri chaired a meeting on Friday that included Revolutionary Guard commander Hossein Salami and police chief Hossein Ashtari.

Among other top brass at the gathering was Gholamreza Soleimani, who heads the Basij, a volunteer militia loyal to the establishment, as was Defence Minister Amir Hatami.

Bagheri appeared in front of the cameras later to say a newly formed commission had been charged with overseeing the “emptying of shops, streets and roads” within the next 24 hours.

Entire nation to monitored

“During the next 10 days, the entire Iranian nation will be monitored once through cyberspace, by phone and, if necessary, in person, and those suspected of being ill will be fully identified,” he said.

It was difficult to estimate on Friday the real extent of the measures announced by the general.

News of the lockdown came as Iran said the novel coronavirus had claimed another 85 lives, its highest single-day toll since the first deaths were announced on February 19.

“Sadly, 85 people infected with the COVID-19 disease have died in the past 24 hours,” health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said.

“Across the country, at least 1,289 infected people have been added to the list of confirmed patients.”

In all, the ministry says 514 people have been killed by the illness out of 11,364 confirmed cases of infection in Iran.

Several politicians and officials have been infected, with some dying from the illness.

The latest suspected case was Ali Akbar Velayati, who advises Iran’s supreme leader on foreign policy.

Velayati fell ill with “mild symptoms” on Wednesday and has been placed in quarantine, according to Tasnim news agency.

Iran on Thursday said it asked the International Monetary Fund for its first loan in decades to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif urged the IMF to “stand on the right side of history”.

‘Right direction’

Zarif also appealed to the United Nations for an end to US sanctions, which he said were “undermining our efforts to fight the COVID-19 epidemic in Iran”.

The United States is currently pursuing a policy of “maximum pressure” aimed at crippling the Iranian government’s finances.

President Donald Trump launched the campaign in 2018 after unilaterally withdrawing the US from a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and reimposing sanctions.

In theory, humanitarian items are exempt from the US sanctions, but in reality banks tend to turn down transactions involving Iran to avoid being exposed to potential litigation.

The World Health Organization praised Iran as a delegation of WHO and public health experts left the country after a five-day mission.

“We see that Iran’s strategies and priorities to control COVID-19 are evolving in the right direction,” said Richard Brennan, WHO regional emergency director.

“But more needs to be done,” he said in a statement.

“We agreed on several priority areas for scale-up with the national health authorities, based on informed experiences in China and elsewhere.”

The Israeli government is set to announce further widespread and stringent measures to try to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, including transitioning staff at workplaces deemed non-essential to work from home, and further limiting public gatherings and movement. The raft of new measures, in addition to those already in force, are likely to paralyze up to 50 percent of the Israeli economy, TV reports said Friday night.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat Friday with top ministers and advisers working on the next steps and was expected to make the announcements on Saturday night, Hebrew media reported. However, Israel was expected to stop short of declaring a state of emergency or imposing a lockdown or curfews.

Among the steps being discussed and likely to be announced are ordering non-essential workers to work from home, limitations or bans on public transport, shutting preschools and creches, limiting access to some malls and shutting others. Some government workers will also be shifted to working from home, TV reports said. Officials were said to be working to determine how many Israeli workers would be classified as non-essential.

All essential workers and workplaces would continue as usual, with extra staff to be recruited.

An empty cafe in the Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv on March 13, 2020. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

The government was also considering releasing prisoners with light sentences to reduce prison crowding.

Despite the devastating effects to the economy, officials have repeatedly promised that there will be no food shortages, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday there was “no reason to storm the supermarkets.”

“We are investing considerable means right now to increase the pace of testing, to reduce the infection rate and – of course – to reinforce, strengthen and safeguard the medical teams, as well as many other things,” Netanyahu said after the Friday meeting.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a meeting to decide on measures to contain the coranavirus with participants sitting at least a meter apart on March 13 2020 (Screencapture/Channel 12)

“There will be enough food in general and for the (upcoming Passover) holiday,” Netanyahu said.

Like many other places in the world, Israelis have been stocking up on supplies, fearing extended periods of quarantine, lockdown orders, or shortages.

Further financial steps were being planned to help people affected by the crisis, lost work and shut businesses, reports said, including easing criteria for unemployment benefits. Banks would also be encouraged to ease terms for loan repayments.

Channel 12 said Israel was also considering reducing or barring the entry of Palestinian workers from the West Bank and would consider giving the Palestinian Authority some kind of financial compensation to ensure the Palestinian economy did not collapse.

The front seat of a public bus at the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem is blocked off as part of measures against the coronavirus, March 10, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Israel has already closed universities and schools across the country.

Israel has taken a number of far-reaching measures to contain and fight the virus, but has so far stopped short of steps such as banning all non-essential domestic travel or ordering the closure of most businesses.

All Israelis returning from overseas are required to quarantine at home for 14 days. Non-Israeli nationals were barred from entering the country as of Thursday at 8 p.m., unless they can demonstrate an ability to self-quarantine for two weeks. Some 35,000 Israelis are said to be in quarantine, almost 1,000 of them doctors and over 600 nurses. Three Israelis are seriously ill with the virus, and almost 150 have tested positive. Nobody has died.

Any public gatherings of over 100 people have been banned, leading to the cancellation of sports games and numerous other events, as well as the closure of theaters and many hotels.

That order, which went into effect Thursday, applies to weddings, bar mitzvahs and funerals, and covers “both closed and open spaces,” according to the Health Ministry.

The regulation has also impacted religious life, with Chief Sephardic Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef on Thursday calling on Israelis to avoid large prayer gatherings at the Western Wall and saying Health Ministry directives should be treated as Jewish law “for all intents and purposes.”

Police announced Friday they were carrying out hundreds of inspections to ensure compliance with the ban on gatherings of over 100 people.

Across the world, authorities have canceled sporting events, theater productions, TV show tapings, concerts and anything that draws a crowd in a frantic effort to keep the virus from spreading in places where people congregate.

Religious Jews at the Rashbi gravesite, which was split into two parts as part of preventive measures against coronavirus, in Meron, northern Israel, March 13, 2020. (David Cohen/Flash90)

The closures are just the latest blow wrought by a series of measures that have seen public life in Israel and around the world contract significantly in the hopes of cutting down meetings between people and chances for the virus to spread.

Netanyahu on Thursday called the pandemic “a global event unlike anything” the country had seen. He warned that “the potential number of deaths is very high and we must take action to prevent that.” Tens of thousands of Israeli lives were at stake, he said, and he intimated that tens of millions could die worldwide if the virus was not thwarted.

He said Israel’s efforts were focused on slowing the spread of the virus so that it doesn’t cause vast numbers of ill people to require medical attention at the same time and overwhelm the health care system.

Netanyahu called on his political rival, the Blue and White party headed by Benny Gantz, to join him and immediately form a temporary emergency government following a year-long political deadlock. Gantz has indicated a willingness to do so, though the terms of such a government were not immediately clear.

Health Minister Yaakov Litzman said his ministry was aiming to greatly expand the number of Israelis tested every day for COVID-19, from the current 600 to 2,000 and more.

Worldwide, there have been over 134,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and over 5,600 deaths since it first emerged in China in December, according to AFP figures.

The World Health Organization has declared the virus a pandemic and warned Friday it was “impossible” to know when it would peak.

An effective Israeli-developed vaccine for coronavirus is on track to be ready for testing within “a few weeks,” though it won’t be available for months because of the lengthy and sometimes bureaucratic testing and approval process, a member of the development team said Tuesday.

Chen Katz told The Times of Israel that the new oral vaccine for adults and children could “turn this disease into a very mild cold.” He said that for many people who are inoculated and then infected by COVID-19, “potentially it will not affect them at all.”

The rapid potential progress by the state-funded Migal Galilee Research Institute stems from the fact that the institute has been working for four years toward a vaccine that could be customized for various viruses, and has now adapted that work to focus on the coronavirus, he said.

Nonetheless, while Israel’s science ministry made headlines last week by touting the institute’s work and saying that its vaccine could be three months away, Dr. Asher Shalmon, the Health Ministry’s director of international relations, has warned against placing “false hopes” in it.

IDr. Chen Katz (Courtesy)

The vaccine will consist of a specially produced protein, and Katz said he expects to be clutching a bottle of it within “a few weeks.” But then comes clinical testing, which will take place in conjunction with a partner, and the paperwork, both of which will take time.

Katz, Biotechnology Group Leader at the institute, said: “By the time the protein is ready, we hope to have found the right partner who can take us through the clinical stage. The clinical testing experiments themselves are not so long, and we can complete them in 30 days, plus another 30 days for human trials. Most of the time is bureaucracy — regulation and paperwork.”

Time could also be lost because of “waiting points” between the different stages of the process, until regulators give the nod for things to move forward.

Dr. Asher Shalmon (Courtesy)

He spoke of the excitement that his team felt when it realized that the research it had been engaged in for four years could be tweaked to combat coronavirus. “The opportunity is amazing here,” he said. “Everyone wants to know we can contribute something to humanity and when we found we had the right tools to do it this became is very exciting.”

Katz’s group at Israel’s state-funded Migal Institute has become a source of hope to many around the world since it revealed on February 27 that it is working on the vaccine, and said it hoped to achieve “safety approval” in 90 days.

For four years, the research of Katz’s team had been focused on developing a vaccine that could be customized to various viruses. It was piloting it with Infectious Bronchitis Virus, but as as coronavirus swept China, started adapting the vaccine for COVID-19.

Its February 27 announcement prompted a widespread expectation among the public that people would soon be protected against coronavirus, which prompted Shalmon’s warning against “false hopes.”

Katz clarified that the 90-day time frame in the February 27 statement was until the product is ready for human testing, and said he still believes this is realistic. He said that skeptics should understand that his team is not working on new research, but rather customizing an existing innovation, meaning that a fast turnaround is realistic. He stated: “The important thing is that we were working on a vaccine, unrelated to this outbreak, and this is a great advantage.”

Katz revealed that the development process is sufficiently advanced that his ten-person team doesn’t need the virus. Instead, it went on the internet soon after the outbreak began, found the sequence of the virus which had been published, and got to work.

He said that the vaccine will be double-barreled, deploying two means to defend people against coronavirus.

The first protection triggers a response in the mouth to stop COVID-19 entering the body. Katz explained: “We are developing the proteins that are needed for our technology of the oral vaccination. They are special proteins which, when sprayed in to the mouth, penetrate the epithelial cells inside the mouth and activate a mucosal immune response, which is the part of the immune response in our body that protects the entry point of the virus.”

The second level of protection kicks in if COVID-19 enters the body. It will bolster the immune system in such a way “that when viral particles penetrate, there will be an immune protection, of antibodies and the right white blood cells.”

He said it will be administered by an oral spray, and will protect people who encounter COVID-19 two weeks after being administered. He stressed: “This is not a drug, not for treatment, only for prevention.”

When The Times of Israel talked to him on Tuesday, Katz’s team, like many in Israel, was also celebrating the Purim festival with fancy dress — in Katz’s case a wig — and hamantaschen. Katz explained that there isn’t much that the team can do to further speed its work along, as it is waiting for scientific processes to chug through in their own time. “This is biology, so it takes its time,” he said.

Much of the work is done by bacteria, he stated, explaining a central part of the process, saying: “We take part of the virus DNA and introduce it to bacteria and make the bacteria produce the viral proteins.”

Israeli defense firm Elbit said Monday that its US subsidiary, Elbit America, had won a US Air Force contract worth up to $471 million.

The company will supply a missile warning system to F-16 fighter jets belonging to the US Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command.

The work will be carried out in Fort Worth, Texas, where Elbit’s US subsidiary is based, over a 10-year period. The fixed-price deal’s ceiling is $471.6 million and is starting with an order valued at $17 million, the Pentagon said.

Neither Elbit nor the Pentagon identified the specific system, only describing it as a pylon-based infrared missile warning system.

Elbit’s Passive Airborne Warning Systems (PAWS) are suitable for F-16s and can be configured to an aircraft’s pylons. The combat-tested system provides 360 degree threat detection and tracking, and automatically manages countermeasures, Elbit says. The Israeli military flies US-produced F-16s.

Elbit has disclosed over $1 billion in contracts since the start of 2020. It trades on the Nasdaq and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the ticker ESLT.

Israel on Tuesday announced several new measures aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus, including banning gatherings of more than 2,000 people and limiting visits to hospitals and retirement homes.

“All public gatherings should seriously be reconsidered and all gatherings of over 2,000 people cannot go ahead,” the Health Ministry announced, reducing the current limit from 5,000 and saying that the number would be reviewed depending on developments.

It also provided new guidelines for dealing with vulnerable populations like the sick and elderly.

“The public should refrain from visiting hospitals and old age homes,” the statement said, adding that if someone needs a chaperone for a visit or appointment, they should make do with only one.

“People with symptoms are not allowed to accompany the sick or visit institutions for the senior community,” it said, noting that it again recommends that “the elderly, particularly those with underlying conditions, and those with compromised immune systems, reduce contact as much as possible with others while still maintaining their daily routines.”

The Welfare Ministry said anyone wanting to visit relatives in old age homes would be able to meet outside the facilities.

Workers at Tel HaShomer Hospital wait for Israelis who were under coronavirus quarantine on the cruise ship, Diamond Princess, in Japan, February 20, 2020. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Channel 13 news reported Tuesday that the Health Ministry has ordered 1,000 new respirators, in addition to the thousands in storage in emergency warehouses. According to the report, the move is to prevent a collapse of the health care system in the same way that Italian hospitals have struggled to keep up with the deluge of patients.

The IDF has called up an additional 100 reservists to assist the Magen David Adom ambulance service as the coronavirus spreads, the military said Tuesday. Thus far, approximately 200 reservists have been called up. Approximately 70 of them are assisting the IDF Home Front Command develop educational materials about the disease.

There have so far been 58 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Israel, most of them contracted by travelers returning from abroad.

The Health Ministry on Tuesday sent out additional itineraries of Israelis and tourists who were found to be carrying the coronavirus, ordering those in contact into quarantine.

Some of those who have been confirmed to have the infection visited facilities for the elderly before they went into quarantine.

The virus is of highest risk to the elderly and also those with underlying health problems.

The new guidelines come a day after Israel drastically ratcheted up its efforts to protect the country from the coronavirus threat, requiring all those arriving from abroad to go into quarantine.

All Israeli citizens returning from overseas were ordered to self-quarantine for 14 days with immediate effect. Non-Israeli citizens will be allowed into the country until Thursday at 8pm. But after that, they will be barred completely unless they can demonstrate that they have a place to quarantine here for 14 days.

The move will essentially shut down tourism and send shockwaves through Israel’s already battered travel sector. Israelis who are abroad have been warned they should consider coming back sooner rather than later as increasing numbers of flights to Tel Aviv are being canceled by both El Al and other carriers.

Over 100 flights were canceled Tuesday at Ben Gurion Airport, Channel 12 reported.

People wearing face masks for fear of the coronavirus arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, March 10, 2020. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The quarantine measures are among the most dramatic to be introduced by any nation in the intensifying battle against the coronavirus. On February 26, Israel had become the first country in the world to advise its citizens against all non-essential overseas travel.

The latest move went into effect immediately for Israelis, but will only be applied to non-Israelis beginning Thursday night, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said. It is not retroactive for those who have already returned from trips abroad, officials said.

The virus has infected more than 110,000 people worldwide and killed more than 3,800 people.