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.