Netanyahu and aides undergo ‘routine’ COVID-19 test; none infected
Neither PM nor his advisers have shown symptoms, his office says; Trump, Trudeau, Bolsonaro were tested for virus only after exposure
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his close aides have undergone testing for COVID-19 and will continue to do so routinely, the premier’s office said Sunday, later updating that none were found to be carrying the virus.
“In accordance with directives from the Prime Minister’s Office deputy director general for security and emergencies, routine coronavirus tests are being carried out on those in close proximity to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as on the prime minister himself; none of those being tested showed any prior symptoms,” the statement said.
The Prime Minister’s Office said on Sunday evening that all tested negative for the virus.
It did not specify whether the prime minister or members of his close circle had been exposed to a carrier of the virus.
Netanyahu joined a growing list of world leaders who have been screened for the novel coronavirus, which has infected over 200 Israelis among more than 150,000 cases worldwide.
On Saturday night, US President Donald Trump tested negative for the virus, officials said. Meanwhile, the White House began checking the temperature of anyone coming into close contact with the president and other officials.
Prior to his testing, Trump said his personal physician told him he didn’t show symptoms and didn’t need to take the test. But Trump decided to do it anyway after repeated questions from reporters about why he was hesitating to undergo screening when he had been exposed to at least three people who have tested positive for the virus.
The White House released the test results just hours after Trump told reporters that he had been checked and that his temperature was “totally normal.”
The test came after at least five Brazilians who traveled with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on a US visit, including meetings with Trump, tested positive for COVID-19.
Bolsonaro announced Friday his own test had come back negative, in a Facebook post he accompanied with a picture of himself making an obscene arm gesture.
Other top Brazilians officials have meanwhile gone into self-quarantine, as have US officials involved in meeting the Brazilian delegation, including US senators Lindsey Graham and Rick Scott.
Numerous members of the Brazilian delegation were still awaiting test results, including Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo.
Wives of Canadian, Spanish leaders test positive
Meanwhile in Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was quarantining himself at home because his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, tested positive for the coronavirus after returning from Britain. He said Friday his wife has mild flu-like symptoms but is doing fine. He said neither he nor their three children are showing symptoms.
Spain’s government said Saturday that the wife of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had also tested positive for the coronavirus. It said Begoña Gómez and the prime minister are in good health and following the instructions of medical authorities at their residence in La Moncloa Palace in Madrid, the government seat.
Two ministers of Sánchez’s cabinet, the minister of equality and the minister of regional affairs, had already tested positive earlier this week. The government said both are in good health as well.
The Times of Israel Community.