Coronavirus testing
Coronavirus testingKobi Richter/TPS

65 Chabad hasidim who arrived from the United States last week and were staying at the Dan Jerusalem Hotel were diagnosed with the coronavirus on Sunday evening.

In coordination with the Ministry of Health, it was decided that the patients would at this stage be transferred to the Shmuel Harofeh Hospital in Be'er Ya'akov.

41 people will now remain in the Dan Jerusalem Hotel, one of the "coronavirus hotels" that have been prepared around the country, which will be used at this time to treat special cases and not for patients who require hospitalization.

Eight of those at the hotel have not yet received the results of their coronavirus test. When the results are received, a decision will be made accordingly.

Last week it was decided, following assessments and consultations at the Ministry of Health, that those returning to Israel from Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters at in Crown Heights will not be permitted to travel to their homes for isolation, but would be transported directly from the plane to isolation in one of the "coronavirus hotels".

The Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters in New York were shut down following the spread of the coronavirus, and after many residents of Crown Heights became infected with the deadly virus.

With the deterioration of the situation in the neighborhood as more and more cases of coronavirus patients are discovered, the neighborhood rabbis decided on the drastic step that has never been taken before, to avoid danger to life.