Health minister recommends against travel to Italy, says not afraid to enforce quarantines; president, currently visiting Australia, to keep itinerary unchanged

Foreign Ministry says Israelis returning from the East Asian countries or who were there in the last 14 days must self-quarantine at home for 2 weeks

'The job of the Jewish people is to pray for the good of the entire world,' says Safed chief rabbi, as overall death toll from China’s epidemic jumps to 1,665

President says he gave instructions on fighting the virus as early as January 7, but was not until later in month that officials announced it can spread between humans

More than 1,300 people have died from coronavirus and nearly 60,000 are infected since the outbreak began two months ago