A total of 415,767 Israelis were required to enter quarantine due to exposure to a confirmed coronavirus carrier during the month of July, a Ynet report said.

Israelis were informed of their requirement to enter quarantine either by the Shin Bet, which conducted contact tracing or by the Health Ministry following an epidemiological investigation. About 246,000 Israelis were instructed to enter quarantine by the Shin Bet versus only 67,000 who were instructed to enter quarantine by the Health Ministry following an epidemiological investigation.

Furthermore, at least 100,000 Israelis entered quarantine through their own initiative after becoming aware that they had been in contact with a confirmed coronavirus carrier, without being instructed to do so.

Thousands of Israelis were erroneously ordered to enter quarantine in July, with the report mentioning several incidents in which the phone of the one who had ordered the coronavirus test was traced rather than the patient’s phone. Furthermore, due to a mix-up of one hospital when transferring the results of coronavirus tests, the phones of seven Israelis who were not virus carriers were traced.

Almost 50,000 Israelis were told they could leave quarantine after appealing their orders due to erroneous data.

The IDF’s Coronavirus Command, which will begin its operations on Thursday, hopes to vastly improve Israel’s contact tracing through harnessing increased manpower and utilizing advanced IDF technology to centralize data.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)