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Bennett enters quarantine after daughter tests positive for coronavirus

Israeli Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton is also self-isolating, after her daughter, too, tested positive for the virus.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett leads a Cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on Dec. 19, 2021. Photo by Emil Salman/POOL.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett leads a Cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on Dec. 19, 2021. Photo by Emil Salman/POOL.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has entered voluntary quarantine after his daughter tested positive for COVID-19, his office announced on Sunday.

Bennett received the news during a special Cabinet session in Kibbutz Mevo Hama in the Golan Heights. Upon being informed of the diagnosis, Bennett handed over the gavel to Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar and left the meeting.

The prime minister tested negative for the virus later in the day, but his office said he would remain in quarantine as a precaution. His daughter will enter self-isolation until she is no longer considered a carrier of the virus. The two will avoid contact during this period.

Just before the Cabinet convened, an employee at the Prime Minister’s Office was found to be positive through a rapid antigen test. The employee was sent into self-isolation, but this did not affect the ministers, as it was determined that none had come into close contact with her.

Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton’s daughter also tested positive. As a result, Shasha-Biton did not attend the Cabinet meeting, having entered quarantine. The minister also took a PCR test, which came back negative.

This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.

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