JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said his government has decided to place anyone arriving from overseas into quarantine in a move to contain a growing coronavirus outbreak.
Netanyahu announced the 14-day quarantine after consultations with Cabinet ministers and senior health officials.
"This is a difficult decision, but it's necessary to protect public health. Public health comes before everything else,” Netanyahu said.
The decision comes weeks before the busy Passover and Easter holiday seasons.
In the Mideast, there have been over 7,600 confirmed cases, with the vast majority in Iran.
Worldwide, there are over 110,000 confirmed cases of the new virus, with more than 3,800 deaths attributed to it.