Illustrative: Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem, September 15, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Over 100 cases of the novel coronavirus have been found on an Israel Defense Forces base in the past day, according to a television report on Tuesday.
The outbreak on a training base used by the Kfir infantry brigade in the Jordan Valley would appear to be the largest single outbreak on an army base yet, according to Channel 13.
Some 400 soldiers have been sent into quarantine, the report said.
The military, in a statement to the station, confirmed that 100 soldiers tested positive for the virus, though it said the cases were discovered over the past few weeks. It said the infected soldiers were taken to another site to recover.
Israeli army technicians carry out a diagnostic test for coronavirus in a IDF lab in central Israel on July 15, 2020. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash90)
“The incident is being handled by and investigated by commanders in coordination with the Medical Corp and IDF, while taking care of the health of the soldiers and servicemen in the brigade,” it said.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories
The IDF said that overall, 1,164 soldiers and military personnel are actively sick with COVID-19, most of them mild. Two people are in serious condition. The army said 10,867 soldiers are in quarantine.
Two weeks ago, the IDF said that a number of officers were disciplined and two cadets were expelled from a course over a coronavirus outbreak at an officer training base in the south of the country. According to the IDF, a number of protocols were broken that were put in place to prevent such an event, including the soldiers belatedly reporting symptoms and a failure to question cadets on their health.
Advertisement
We can't do this work alone.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can't do this alone. If you value work like this,please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
