Joint List MK in quarantine after driver tests positive for virus
All of Sami Abou Shahadeh’s aides who were in contact with chauffeur also isolating; Knesset says anyone exposed to him should follow quarantine guidelines
Joint List MK Sami Abu Shehadeh (Screen capture: YouTube)
A Joint List lawmaker entered quarantine on Tuesday after his driver tested positive for the coronavirus.
MK Sami Abou Shahadeh said all of his aides who were in contact with the driver also entered quarantine, according to a statement from a Knesset spokesman.
The driver was last at the Knesset on May 26.
Yosef Grif, the Knesset sergeant-at-arms, told Knesset members and workers that anyone who was in contact with the driver should follow the Health Ministry’s quarantine guidelines.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous Knesset members have entered quarantine after being exposed to a carrier of the virus, though only Yaakov Litzman was diagnosed with the virus.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and then-Health Minister Yaakov Litzman hold a press conference about the coronavirus at the Health Ministry in Jerusalem, March 4, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
Litzman, head of the United Torah Judaism party, was serving as health minister when it was announced he had tested positive for the virus on April 2. He has since recovered from COVID-19. He is now housing minister.
Litzman’s diagnosis forced other top government officials he was in contact with into quarantine, among them Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu had also entered quarantine previously after an aide became sick. On Monday an employee at the Prime Minister’s Office was diagnosed with the virus, raising the prospect of Netanyahu needing to isolate again, but officials appeared to have ruled that his contacts with the worker did not make that necessary.
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Netanyahu held a press conference Saturday, at which he warned of new potential lockdown measures following an uptick in the number of virus cases in recent days.
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