As the number of Israelis infected with the novel Coronavirus continues to climb, the IDF has called up dozens of reservists to help the Homefront Command. According to a statement provided to The Jerusalem Post, around 70 reservists will be called up. In addition, the military has called up another 100 medical reservists to help with the call center set up by Magen David Adom to deal with calls from those are concerned they might have contracted the virus. On Monday night Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that anyone landing in Israel must adhere to a 14-day long quarantine. Earlier in the day the IDF announced that any soldier returning from abroad, even from countries who have not yet been affected by the virus would not be able to serve for two weeks. As of Tuesday afternoon 58 Israeli citizens including one female soldier have been diagnosed with the virus. According to the military, as of Monday 2,236 IDF soldiers have entered quarantine (including a battalion commander), the majority of whom recently returned from vacations overseas or came into contact with someone who was diagnosed with the virus. Hundreds of soldiers have returned to their units after spending two weeks in quarantine. One female soldier has so far been diagnosed with the virus. On Friday, the IDF announced that no IDF soldier would be able to leave Israel in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The decision was made by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi in accordance with the Health Ministry’s guidelines and following a situational assessment with the military’s General Staff. According to IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen Hidai Zilberman, Kochavi and other senior officials held a two hour long assessment on Monday morning regarding the continued spread of the virus in Israel and decided to maintain the strict approach to reduce the number of soldiers exposed to the virus in order to maintain the IDF’s operational readiness, which is essential to the security of the State of Israel. The spokesman said that while the virus has not yet caused a major disruption to the IDF’s activities, there are concerns that it may in the future. As such, the military has placed restrictions on events, ceremonies, conferences and gatherings with events in closed areas limited to 100 people and outdoors events limited to 500 people. While civilian family members will not be allowed to attend military events such as graduation ceremonies, Zilberman said that the military will work to put in place other options to watch such as live streaming on Facebook. Individuals from abroad who arrived from Europe this week to volunteer at IDF bases will return to their countries, and future groups have been instructed not to come to Israel until further notice. The military is also preparing for if they are called up to take part in national measures along with various government ministries concerning the virus by holding war games to understand how to prepare accordingly. The IDF is also making preparations for the future use of military facilities to care for those diagnosed with the virus, to assist both the civilian population as well as the police to enforce quarantine and the need to assist the county in providing medical supplies and food if needed.Source
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