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(illustration)Reuters

The government on Monday night approved emergency regulations that include the use of digital tools to help fight the spread of the coronavirus.

The regulations were unanimously approved in a telephone consultation attended by a legal counsel. Earlier, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced that the government would approve the regulations that would allow it to locate coronavirus patients in an attempt to stop the epidemic. The digital tools would be in effect for 30 days.

According to the plan, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) will track down coronavirus patients and the route they took until they went into isolation or hospitalization. The technology will enable the Shin Bet to identify the people who were within range of the patient and those who were exposed to the virus can be informed, directly to their phones, that they must go into isolation or be tested.

On Monday, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, headed by MK Gabi Ashkenazi, convened to discuss the government's request for the Shin Bet to assist in the national effort to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, but did not approve the move because it did not receive a professional opinion on the issue.