Namaste, Israel: Coronavirus Spurs Unique Response (And Warning From Rabbis) Public events like Purim parades are canceled, Netanyahu urges people to try ‘Namaste’ greeting, Orthodox Jews attempt to see the funny side of the crisis – and there's even an app with an 'Isolated Together' chat Source HAARETZ

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• Normally, spring in Israel is a cavalcade of festivals and celebrations, with the Jewish holiday of Purim followed quickly by Passover and Independence Day, and Ben-Gurion airport jammed with tourists heading in and out.
• But the new coronavirus has cast a grim shadow over the usual preparation and anticipation of parades, all travel and large gatherings, as the government has taken a maximalist approach to prevent the spread of COVID-19, which has placed tens of thousands in home quarantine, crippled business travel and devastated the tourism industry.
• Israel may be viewed as an “Americanized” society, but its government’s response to the epidemic strikes a sharp contrast to the United States. President Donald Trump has been criticized for what are being seen as overly optimistic remarks regarding the dangers of the spread of COVID-19. That has sparked concern that out of deference to Trump and his concerns about the stock market and other economic concerns that could damage him politically, the federal government, including health authorities, is downplaying the threat.
  In Israel, the criticism is precisely the opposite: That draconian efforts to preserve the public health are overly extreme, and their potential damage to the country’s economy are not being weighed heavily enough.

  

  A security guard at Maccabi Tel Aviv's Euroleague basketball game against Andolo Zero, which was played behind closed doors on March 4, 2020.Nir Keidar

  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set the tone Wednesday in a joint press conference with Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, declaring that the world was in the midst of a global pandemic, and that it could be “among the most dangerous of such pandemics in the past 100 years.”
  Extolling the fact that “Israel is in the best situation of all other countries, together with another two or three Western countries,” Netanyahu added that Israel’s abundance of caution has, so far, paid off. “We were compelled to take harsh – even very harsh – measures in order to slow the pace of the spread of the disease in Israel, and indeed this has happened,” he said.