The COVID-19 pandemic in Israel was part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first case in Israel was confirmed on 21 February 2020, when a female citizen tested positive for COVID-19 at the Sheba Medical Center after return from quarantine on the Diamond Princess ship in Japan. As a result, a 14-day home isolation rule was instituted for anyone who had visited South Korea or Japan, and a ban was placed on non-residents and non-citizens who were in South Korea for 14 days before their arrival.
Beginning on 11 March 2020, Israel began enforcing social distancing and other rules to limit the spread of infection. Gatherings were first restricted to no more than 100 people, and on 15 March this figure was lowered to 10 people, with attendees advised to keep a distance of 2 m (6 ft 7 in) between one another. On 19 March, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a national state of emergency, saying that existing restrictions would henceforth be legally enforceable, and violators would be fined. Israelis were not allowed to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary. Essential services—including food stores, pharmacies, and banks—would remain open. Restrictions on movement were further tightened on 25 March and 1 April, with everyone instructed to cover their noses and mouths outdoors. As coronavirus diagnoses spiked in the city of Bnei Brak, reaching nearly 1,000 infected people at the beginning of April, the cabinet voted to declare the city a "restricted zone", limiting entry and exit for a period of one week. Coinciding with the Passover Seder on the night of 8 April, lawmakers ordered a 3-day travel ban and mandated that Israelis stay within 100 m (330 ft) of their home on the night of the Seder. On 12 April, Haredi neighborhoods in Jerusalem were placed under closure.
On 20 March 2020, an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor in Jerusalem who had previous illnesses was announced as the country's first casualty. The pandemic occurred during the 2019–2022 Israeli political crisis and had a significant political impact. All restrictions in Israel were removed throughout the spring of 2021, later reintroducing face mask requirements. Restrictions on non-citizens entering the country remained until January 2022.
Israel Shield, the country's national program to combat the pandemic, was established in July 2020. As of June 2021, it is led by Salman Zarka, a position known as the "COVID czar".
Timeline
First wave: February to May 2020
First cases
On 21 February, Israel confirmed the first case of COVID-19. A female Israeli citizen who had flown home from Japan after being quarantined on the Diamond Princess tested positive at Sheba Medical Center. On 23 February, a second former Diamond Princess passenger tested positive, and was admitted to a hospital for isolation.
On 27 February, a man, who had returned from Italy on 23 February, tested positive and was admitted to Sheba Medical Center. On 28 February, his wife also tested positive. On 1 March, a female soldier tested positive for the virus. She had been working at the toy store managed by the same man diagnosed on 27 February. On 3 March, three more cases were confirmed. Two contracted the virus at the same toy store: a middle school student who worked at the store, and a school deputy principal who shopped there. Following this, 1,150 students entered a two-week quarantine. One other person, who had returned from a trip to Italy on 29 February, also tested positive for the virus.
Information campaign
The government has set up a multi-lingual website with information and instructions regarding the pandemic. Among the languages: English, Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, Amharic, French, Spanish, Ukrainian, Romanian, Thai, Chinese, Tigrinya, Hindi, Filipino. The government also set up a dashboard where daily statistics can be viewed.
Travel restrictions
On 26 January 2020, Israel advised against non-essential travel to China. On 30 January, Israel suspended all flights from China. On 17 February, Israel extended the ban to include arrivals from Thailand, Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore. On 22 February, a flight from Seoul, South Korea, landed at Ben Gurion Airport. An ad hoc decision was made to allow only Israeli citizens to disembark the plane, and all non-Israeli citizens aboard returned to South Korea. Later, Israel barred the entry of non-residents or non-citizens of Israel who were in South Korea during the 14 days prior to their arrival in Israel. The same directive was applied to those arriving from Japan starting 23 February. On 26 February, Israel issued a travel warning to Italy, and urged cancelling of all travel abroad. By the third week in March, El Al, Israel's national air carrier, responded to a government request to send rescue flights to Peru, India, Australia, Brazil, and Costa Rica to bring home hundreds of Israelis who were stranded around the world due to the worldwide pandemic. On 22 March, 550 Israelis returned from India; a few days before about 1,100 Israeli travelers were repatriated from Peru.
On 21 February, Israel instituted a 14-day home isolation rule for anyone who had been in South Korea or Japan. A number of tourists tested positive after visiting Israel, including members of a group from South Korea, two people from Romania, a group of Greek pilgrims, and a woman from the U.S. State of New York. 200 Israeli students were quarantined after being exposed to a group of religious tourists from South Korea. An additional 1,400 Israelis were quarantined after having traveled abroad. On 9 March, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a mandatory quarantine for all people entering Israel, requiring all entrants to quarantine themselves for 14 days upon entering the country. The order was effective immediately for all returning Israelis, and would apply beginning on 13 March for all foreign citizens, who must show that they have arranged for accommodation during their quarantine period.
Social distancing and closures
On 2 March, the 2020 Israeli legislative election was held. Multiple secluded voting booths were established for 5,630 quarantined Israeli citizens who were eligible to vote. 4,073 citizens voted in the coronavirus-special voting booths. After the election, numerous Israelis were in quarantine. On 10 March, Israel began limiting gatherings to 2,000 people. A day later, on March 11, Israel further limited gatherings to 100 people. On 14 March, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced new regulations and stated the need to "adopt a new way of life". The Health Ministry posted new regulations, effective 15 March. These included banning gatherings of more than 10 people, and closure of all educational institutions, among them daycare centers, special education, youth movements, and after-school programs. The list of venues required to close included: malls, restaurants, hotel dining rooms, pubs, dance clubs, gyms, pools, beaches, water and amusement parks, zoos and petting zoos, bathhouses and ritual baths for men, beauty and massage salons, event and conference venues, public boats and cable cars, and heritage sites. Take-away restaurants, supermarkets, and pharmacies were to remain open. The pandemic forced many events to be cancelled. Notwithstanding the closure of wedding halls, weddings took place in private homes with the limitation of no more than 10 participants in each room; dancing could take place both indoors and in outdoor courtyards. Weddings were also held on rooftops and yeshiva courtyards. In one case, a Sephardi couple opted to hold their wedding ceremony in an Osher Ad supermarket, which was exempt from the 10-person rule. The Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock closed to prevent contamination of the holy sites. As a result of the government's directive for citizens to remain at home, there was an increase in calls to domestic violence hotlines, and women's shelters were close to full capacity, both due to new arrivals and to current residents who remained due to the pandemic.
On 9 March, after it was discovered that an employee at the Israeli embassy in Greece had contracted coronavirus and spread it to two family members, it was announced that the embassy was temporarily shutting down. On 12 March, Israel announced that all universities and schools would close until after the Passover (spring) break. After the break, schools remained closed and students learned online. On 3 May, grades one to three were allowed to resume school, with restrictions, and not in all cities. In addition, grades eleven and twelve were allowed to hold revisions for the upcoming Bagrut exams. On 15 March, Justice Minister Amir Ohana expanded his powers and announced that non-urgent court activity would be frozen. As a result, the corruption trial of Prime Minister Netanyahu was postponed from 17 March to 24 May. The Movement for Quality Government in Israel urged the Attorney General to stay the new regulations. On 16 March, the Bank of Israel ordered retail banks to close, but allowed special services to remain open for elderly people. On 22 March, both the open-air Carmel Market in Tel Aviv and the open-air Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem were closed by police. Many supermarkets experienced a shortage of eggs caused by panic buying and fear of shutdown.
Medical response
As late as 15 March, doctors complained that guidelines for testing were too restrictive. On 16 March, the Health Ministry approved a number of experimental treatments for patients with COVID-19. On 18 March, the Defense Ministry took over purchasing of Corona-related gear. On the same day, the Israel Institute for Biological Research announced that they are working on a COVID-19 vaccine. On 18 March at 6 pm, Israelis across the country applauded from their balconies for two minutes in appreciation of medical workers and first responders battling coronavirus. On 29 March, Magen David Adom announced that it will collect blood plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients to treat those most severely affected by the infection. In December 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Health approved the use of Pfizer's Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir for treating COVID-19.
Politics
The virus begun to rapidly spread after the March 2020 election, and pandemic politics affected Israel's subsequent trajectory. The incumbent PM Benjamin Netanyahu did not win enough seats to form a coalition, and the presidential mandate to form a coalition was given to his contender, Benny Gantz. Facing criminal charges and unable to form a coalition, PM Netanyahu urged the establishment of a National Emergency Government (NEG). Abulof and Le Penne argue that Netanyahu succeeded partly through fearmongering. Suggesting that “If I fall, Israel falls”, Netanyahu compared the COVID-19 crisis to the Holocaust, qualifying “unlike the holocaust, this time – this time, we identified the danger in time,” saying that NEG headed by him is needed “like before the Six-Day War,” to “save the country.”
Netanyahu's pandemic politics brought his party the Likud to reach peak public support (41-43 seats during the first wave of April–May 2020), pushing Gantz to ask Israel's President to transfer the mandate to Netanyahu so that the latter could form, and head, a new government. Overall, Abulof and Le Penne argue, Israel features key factors that could have helped it weather well the COVID-19 crisis: a young population, close or otherwise heavily monitored borders, warm climate, an efficient public health system, hard-earned public resilience, willingness for mass mobilization, high-tech capacities (to help gather and spread information), and meager reliance on tourism.
Mobile phone tracking
On 15 March, the Israeli government proposed allowing the Israel Security Agency (ISA) to track the prior movements of people diagnosed with coronavirus through their mobile phones. The security service would not require a court order for its surveillance. The stated goal of the measure was to identify people with whom infected individuals came into contact in the two weeks prior to their diagnosis, and to dispatch text messages informing those people that they must enter the 14-day self-quarantine. The security measure was to be in place for only 30 days after approval by a Knesset subcommittee, and all records were to be deleted after that point. Critics branded the proposal an invasion of privacy and civil liberties.