Israel's response during the containment phase of the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 led to a delay in sustained community transmission and effective mitigation. During February-April 2020, a total of 15,981 confirmed cases resulted in 223 deaths. A total of 179,003 persons reported electronically to self-quarantine and were entitled to paid sick leave.
Keywords: 2019 coronavirus disease; COVID-19; Israel; SARS; SARS-CoV-2; containment; coronavirus; respiratory infections; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; travel restrictions; viruses; zoonoses.