Coronavirus: Israel leads by example in virus battle

By imposing a series of tough restrictions from the outset of the coronavirus crisis, Isreal has so far managed to avoid any deaths.

‘People are adopting our methods, including most recently the New Zealand government,’ said Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday. Picture: AFP

From the start of the Corona crisis, Israel has been on a war footing. Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu has held nightly press conferences, live into the evening news bulletins, to announce the latest restrictions. Each time, the measures came as a shock and elicited criticism. Yet within days, other countries followed suit.

“People are adopting our methods, including most recently the New Zealand government,” Netanyahu said on Saturday, announcing the closure of ‘non-essential’ workplaces, such as restaurants, cafes, theatres and gyms. Kindergartens were also shut down, joining schools and universities which were shut down last week.

He also announed that no more than 10 people can gather in public, including in a workplace.

Tens of thousands of Israelis are in quarantine at home. Israel was amongst the first countries to impose self-quarantine on all people flying in to the country, including foreigners. If people can’t prove they have somewhere (other than a hotel) to stay for 14 days, they can’t enter, in effect closing Israeli airspace to incoming flights.

Fay Ginzburg, an Australian who lives in Israel, didn’t think she would make it back.

Her return flight from Melbourne was cancelled 3 times. Finally, El Al provided a route through Africa. “In the arrivals hall at Tel Aviv, in the baggage area and passport control, ours was the only plane,” Fay wrote, after hurrying home to her 14-day isolation.

From the start, Israel imposed rigorous contact tracing. Now it will be expanded.

Netanyahu announced Saturday that he planned to track patients’ mobile phones in order to trace their contacts. “I have resisted this, because of the privacy implications, but now this is the only way to defeat this virus,” he said.

Up to this point, the movements of an infected person were mapped using interviews and GPS locations and other information from their phones, with their co-operation.

Anyone who came into contact with them was required to go into quarantine. That included people sitting in the same café or attending the same soccer game. After a high school student who became infected with the virus went to a soccer match, the Ministry of Health directive was reported on Israeli radio: “People who entered Blumfield Stadium via Gate 8 on Thursday are required to go into isolation.’

The student picked up the virus at a toy store, the Red Pirate, whose manager had

become infected on a trip to Italy. Three pregnant women who were shopping at the Red Pirate also had to go into isolation. One of them gave birth in isolation and her baby was taken to have a medical procedure, while she remained by herself to complete her quarantine.

“As a society we are able to very quickly go into emergency mode,” said Israeli author and analyst, Yossi Klein Halevi. “Unfortunately, we have long practice in responding to emergencies. And as damaged as our political system may be, Israeli society is very resilient, social bonds are strong and people pull together.”

One of the most practical step Israeli medical authorities have taken is to implement home testing. There’s a hotline for people to call if they have symptoms. The Health Department then sends a paramedic in protective gear to their home to take a swab.

Within 48 hours – or less, if the test comes back positive - they have the results, without infecting anyone else.

“Not testing alone. Not contact tracing alone. Not quarantine alone. Not social distancing alone. Do it all… do not just let this fire burn,” advised Director of the World Health Organisation Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Israel is doing all that, but it is only slowing the spread of the virus, it won’t halt it. Still, it’s worth remembering that the first Coronavirus cases appeared in Israel and Italy at around the same time in February. The people in both countries are in lockdown, but Israel imposed its measures

ahead of the curve. Italy now has more than 17,500 people infected and more than 1,400 dead and a health service under stress. Israel has around 190 infections and, so far, no deaths.