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Knesset Shuts Down as Lawmaker Tests Positive for COVID-19

[additional-authors]
Picture of Marcy Oster, JTA

Marcy Oster, JTA

June 4, 2020
TEL AVIV, ISRAEL – MARCH 20: Israeli Fire Department crew spray disinfectants as they sanitize the entrance to Tel Aviv’s Hospital on March 20, 2020 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Number of coronavirus in Israel continues to jump, after over 200 new cases have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)

The Knesset was mostly shut down on Thursday after a lawmaker from the Arab Joint List announced that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Sami Abu Shehadeh was tested for the virus after his driver was diagnosed with COVID-19. He and his staff are now in isolation.

Abu Shehadeh told the Kan public broadcaster on Thursday morning that he is asymptomatic and has met with thousands of people in the last week, including at protests, family events and Knesset meetings.

All Knesset committee meetings and other events scheduled for Thursday were canceled, and hundreds of Knesset employees were told to stay home unless their work at the building was deemed essential.

Israel has seen an uptick in confirmed cases of the coronavirus as it continues to reopen.

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