UPDATE - Israeli Prime Minister Tests Negative For COVID-19 - Press Service

Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published April 03, 2020 | 01:30 PM

TEL AVIV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd April, 2020) Israeli Prime Minister Benjiamin Netanyahu has tested negative for COVID-19, the government's press service said on Friday.

On Thursday, Netanyahu's spokeswoman, Anna Jonathan-Leus, said that the prime minister had quarantined himself for the second time after the country's health minister, Yaakov Litzman, was diagnosed with COVID-19.

"The prime minister tested negative for the coronavirus," the press service said.

Netanyahu had just gotten out of a two-day quarantine on Wednesday, which he entered after his adviser on ultra-Orthodox affairs, Rivka Paluch, tested positive for COVID-19. The prime minister was not in direct contact with Paluch.

Check-ups on the prime minister, his family and inner circle showed that none of them were infected.

According to the latest data of the Health Ministry, as of Friday morning, the number of coronavirus cases in Israel has reached 7,030, while 36 patients have died of the disease.

On Thursday evening, the ministry reported 6,857 cases of the disease and 34 fatalities. A total of 357 patients have recovered.

Israel has been resorting to strict measures in order to stop the disease from spreading, including a ban on movement, as well as on having guests and gathering in groups of more than 10 people.