Israel has a message to its citizens: try to avoid all international travel.
The country’s Health Ministry urged Israelis on Wednesday to reconsider traveling to other countries because of the increasing cases of coronavirus worldwide.
“If you don’t genuinely have to fly — don’t do so,” the ministry warned in a statement, according to the Times of Israel.
The warning comes as countries across the globe have seen increased cases of the virus, officially known as COVID-19, which began in China in December. Although Israel has only had two confirmed cases of the virus, both of which were passengers on a cruise ship that was bedeviled by the contagion in Japan, its government has taken strong measures to prevent spread.
In South Korea there have been at least 1,261 infections and 12 deaths, while Italy has seen a dramatic outbreak with 401 cases and 12 deaths. The illness has spread to six continents, excluding Antarctica, with South America confirming its first case of the flu-like virus on Wednesday.
“The current assessment is that there is a high probability that the pathogen has spread to additional areas in Europe and in many other places around the world,” the Israeli travel warning read.
The Middle Eastern country has refused entry to all foreign nationals from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, and Thailand, and required all citizens who have visited those countries in the past two weeks to self-quarantine. Those who violate the quarantines could face up to seven years in prison.
Worldwide more than 81,000 people have been infected, and at least 2,770 have died. Stock markets in the United States have taken a nosedive as worries grow about the illness affecting global markets.
