Israel today imposed a self-quarantine for a period of 14-days due to the coronavirus. This applies to foreign nationals and all Israeli citizens. This means anyone arriving in the country must self-quarantine for 14 days.
There have so far been 50 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Israel, some 22,000 Israelis are already in quarantine. The virus, which emerged in Wuhan, China late last year, has infected over 110,000 people in more than 90 countries, killing over 4,000.
Prime Minister Netanyahu took to Twitter to announce the decision: Everyone who comes to Israel from abroad will be in 14-day isolation. Passengers who do not meet these requirements will not be allowed to enter Israel.
As a result, Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines canceled all their flights to Tel Aviv and Eilat (Israel) as of Sunday 8 March 2020 for the remaining winter timetable period until 28 March.
Austrian Airlines suspended its flight connection to Tel Aviv from Sunday, March 8 onwards. The Austrian home carrier will cancel three daily flights until March 28, 2020.
Wizz Air said that it will halt flights between Europe and Israel until March 23.
Alitalia and Iberia said Friday they would no longer fly to Israel.
Finnair is cancelling all flights to/from Tel Aviv and Eilat in March-April.
Israir will operate flights until the weekend to bring all its passengers back from abroad. After that, all international flights will be canceled until the end of March.
Arkia will send all its employees on vacation without pay. The airline canceled most of its international routes until further notice.
Delta is suspending its New York-JFK service to Tel Aviv starting March 14 through March 24.
Meanwhile, the number of people falling ill in Italy has climbed rapidly, with active cases reaching nearly 8,000, 463 people have died. Airlines are canceling flights to Italy as authorities there seek to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
